Key of Lineage
by PrismRain13
Summary: Twenty years after the fall of Xehanort, the worlds were finally at peace until the heartless appeared again. When Sora and Kairi's daughter Avalon gets kidnaped off her island home she will set off on her own journey accompanied by Max and Vivi and finally learn of the existence of other worlds. Will they stop this new threat known as Tenebrae, the prince of darkness? Spoilers!
1. Prologue: Awakening Of A New Hero

**Hey there guys! Yeah, I know it's way too early to be posting this considering Reconnected and Another Side Another Story aren't complete yet. Bad Prism! But honestly the prologue of this story has been complete and sitting around my documents for the last two years now and Its just been bugging the crap out of me. Plus, with KH3 coming out soon I've been pretty discouraged and lost a lot of motivation to write in regards to Reconnected. And my work schedule is so unpredictable that it's impossible to make a writing schedule around. Now this doesn't mean that I've given up on it! I'm still going to try and finish since I've come so far. It's just going to be a bit more of a push to get those last chapters done.**

 **So, I hope you enjoy this story I've wanted to tell since I first started Reconnected. Kingdom hearts and all it's properties belong to Disney and Square Enix. I only own the plot line and the OCs of the next generation**

 ** _Key of Lineage_**

 ** _Prologue: Awakening of a New Hero_**

 _"Memories of the past, visions of the future. I want to know where I really belong and what my true destiny is."_

 _A girl of fifteen years was sinking deep into a dark, watery abyss. Her breathing was soft, rhythmic and relaxed. And her long, slightly spiked reddish-brown hair whipped around her face, while a small stand of hair was tied with a blue band on one side of her face. Her skin was slightly tanned thanks to the extensive time she spent in the sun. She was dressed in a simple school uniform with a blue plaid tie and skirt, a white short-sleeved button-up shirt, dark blue knee-high socks, black dress shoes and a silver tear-drop shaped necklace was around her neck._

 _She could feel herself falling, deeper and deeper into the shadows. But strangely, the space around her warm and relaxing. She felt like she could just fall asleep like this for hours on end. But, she knew she couldn't. She had to wake up sooner or later._

 _She opened her ocean blue eyes, she found herself not in the shadowy place she was in before, but standing on the sandy beach of her home; Destiny Islands. Everything was just the same as she remembered with the warm sand, tropical breeze and crystal clear water. The girl looked out to the ocean, finding a familiar figure standing knee-deep in the water._

 _It was a boy a year older than her with unkept silver hair dressed in the boy version of her school uniform; The same white t-shit, tie and black shoes with dark blue pants and a yellow bandanna tied around his wrist._

 _The boy said nothing but simply smiled at her and held out his hand. But, just as she was about to step into the water to meet with him, she saw a large wave begin to form behind him. Without wasting a second to think, the fifteen-year-old girl rushed over to him with her hand extended. But, just as she took his hand, the wave engulfed them both._

 _The girl remained underwater for a few moments as she felt the boy's fingers slip away from her. She struggled to find him again, but she then broke through the surface of the water. Looking back at the island, she saw two other familiar figures waving to her; an adult man with spiky brown hair and an adult woman with aburn hair tied back in a loose bun. Judging by the wedding bands on their fingers, she instantly knew they were a married couple. The girl smiled at the sight of them and waved back. But, before she could take a single step towards them, the sky turned to a terrifying darkness._

 _The wind howled violently as pieces of the island were ripped away and dark creatures with yellow eyes emerged from the ground to attack the couple. The girl quickly discovered she couldn't move her legs and soon found herself falling backwards and once again sinking into the water._

 _But, unusually she felt as though she could still breathe normally. And just like before, she felt herself falling in that same peaceful aura. Too soon, it ended and she found herself standing on some sort of surface with the blackness still remaining all around her. The girl took one step forward when suddenly, a giant flock of doves appeared beneath her feet and flew away into the distance, revealing a beautiful stained-glass platform._

 _The girl was so amazed and distracted at the beauty of the glass platform that she almost jumped in surprise when she heard a strange voice echo throughout the space._

The time has finally come for you. Soon your destiny will be fulfilled. You and others must battle the darkness. _The voice rang smoothly through her ears while she maintained a confused expression._ Now's the time to take the first step. Can you do it?

 _The girl took a deep breath before stepping forward. She wasn't sure what the voice was talking about or what it meant, but something deep inside her made her feel as though she had to listen. Slowly, she did what the voice requested of her; she took a few steps forward so she was standing exactly in the centre of the platform._

 _Once she reached the centre, three silver pedestals appeared around her with different weapons floating atop each one; a sword, a shield and a staff all bearing the same mouse head symbol._

Power sleeps within you. _The voice spoke again._ If you give it form, it will grant you the strength you need for the long road ahead. Which will it be? The power of the warrior? The power of the guardian? Or the power of the mystic?

 _She wasn't exactly sure what to make of what the voice was saying, but the girl acted on instinct and approached the sword. Almost instantly, the voice filled her mind._

The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek? _The voice spoke. Avalon took a moment to take in what the voice said. She had spent some time using wooden swords for play fighting back home so she had at least some experience. It want like any of this dream was real anyway. She then looked up to the sky and gave a short nod. Instantly, the shield, staff and pedestals vanished._

Your path has been set. There will be times you have to fight. But do not be afraid. Keep your light burning strong. _The voice spoke to her._

 _But then suddenly, she was surrounded by a small army of small black creatures with beady yellow eyes. Before the girl had even a chance to let their sudden appearance sink in, the creatures jumped to attack her. Their sharp claws scratched at her, dealing quite a bit of damage and just kept leaping at her._

 _Realizing she had to defend herself, she tightly gripped her sword and swung it towards the dark creatures. The blade cut through them, dissolving them into smal wisps of shadows within a few strikes. The sword she'd been given was powerful and remarkably easy to wield._

 _The girl could feel her heart beating loudly in her chest and sweat dripping from her brow. She still had no idea what those creatures were or what this dream meant, but something was telling her she had to keep fighting. The next thing she knew, she had defeated all of the creatures. Then, the voice spoke to her again._

The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes. _Out of curiosity, the girl turned around, only to find that her shadow was growing. The girl gasped in shock and fear as her shadow continued to grow larger and larger. She slowly backed away as her shadow continued to grow and morph until it became a large shadowy creature with a heart-shaped hole in the centre._

 _Overwhelmed by fear, the girl turned around and ran from the shadowy monster only to find she couldn't run any further than the edge of the stained glass platform. The girl looked back at the monster and gasped as she saw it raise its arm and swing at her. Luckily, she jumped out of the way just in time. Knowing what she had to do, the girl pulled the sword out in front of her and furrowed her brow in determination._

 _Using all her strength, the girl jumped and attacked the monster's hands. It kept attacking her and summoning more and more of the smaller shadowy figures but she refused to give up. She used the sword to attack the creatures and defend herself from oncoming attacks._

 _The battle felt like it went on forever for the girl, but before long, it was over. With one final strike from the Dream Sword, the dark creature collapsed and sunk into a puddle of darkness. The girl found her heart beating heavily and breathing heavily. Then, the next thing she knew, the sword vanished from her hand and she found herself sinking into the puddle of darkness. She started to panic and desperately tried to struggle out of the puddle but that only seemed to make her sink more quickly._

 _Just as she was sinking, the voice spoke to her again,_ Don't be afraid of the darkness. You have friends who will stand by your side. So don't doubt yourself and remember... You are part of a legacy. _With those final words, everything turned dark._

~*KH*~

Ocean blue eyes slowly cracked open to be greeted by the familiar sight of a messy bedroom. Warm, morning sunlight shone through a nearby window. Through that window, you could clearly see the tropical landscape of an island. Her bookcase was full of children's books and fairytales written by her father, her messy bed was covered in sky blue sheets with a pile of stuffed animals rested on her windowsill.

The same reddish-brown haired girl lay in the bed dressed in a blue tank top and white pyjama shorts decorated with little pink hearts. Her mother's silver teardrop-shaped necklace sat around her neck; she'd very rarely take it off. After releasing a yawn, she pushed herself up to a sitting position.

"What a weird dream." She mumbled to herself as she opened her window, greeting the tropical island air. Despite growing up on the Destiny Islands, the sight of the morning sunrise always made her smile and feel warm inside.

The girl released a sigh as she soaked in the morning sun. "So much water, I wonder if there really is anything beyond that. Maybe fairytale castles or towns or colorful characters like in dad's stories."

 _Destiny Islands_

Just then, there was a knock at her door. "Avalon? Are you awake?" The voice of an older man spoke through her door.

"Yeah, Dad. I just got up." She replied.

"Okay, well hurry up and get dressed. Breakfast is already ready and you don't want to be late for your last day of school before summer break. Lyle's already here." Her dad said.

"Okay, I'll be right down." Replied Avalon as she climbed out of bed. Within a few moments, she was dressed in the same school uniform from her dream; the standard girl's uniform for Destiny Island's high school. Her mother's necklace still sat around her neck. Once she was changed, Avalon left her room and made her way down to her house's kitchen. There, she found her mother, father and Lyle, her best friend.

They had practically grown up together since their parents had been best friends when they were younger. They'd spent their childhoods playing on the play island, swimming, racing and sword fighting with wooden swords. Despite being a year older than her, Lyle never looked down on her, they always treated each other just as best friends should. Lyle was a strong, athletic young man and was always there when Avalon needed him.

Her mother was a doctor at the islands only health clinic but her skills were nothing to sneeze at. They said that the way her patients healed so quickly was almost like magic. Her hair was usually tied back in a loose bun and she was dressed in a white blouse with a pink bow, a pink business skirt and black dress shoes. She was a sweet and kind woman with an almost radiant heart.

Her father had taken over her grandfather's surf shop and also wrote children's books on the side about worlds beyond the islands. Avalon's personal favourites were Aladdin and his magic lamp, the little mermaid and the beauty and the beast. He was dressed in a simple red v-neck t-shirt with blue lining, black fingerless gloves and pants, yellow belts crossing his hips, yellow sandals and a silver crown-shaped necklace. He was the type of guy you could easily get along with and just made everyone smile wherever he went.

She hadn't realized it until then, but Lyle and her parents had been in her dream. There was no mistaking Lyle's unkept silver hair and brown eyes, her mother's aburn hair that was so much like her own or her father's spiky brown hair, bright blue eyes and goofy smile. Like Avalon, Lyle was also dressed in his school uniform; the same one he'd been wearing in her dream. Why had she seen them there? Did her dream mean something after all?

Avalon was so lost in thought she hadn't realized she'd been staring at them until her mother placed a plate of breakfast in front of her. It was her and her dad's favourite; blueberry pancakes cut into the paopu fruit shape.

"Still sleepy Avalon?" Her mom laughed as she gave everyone a plate of pancakes and ruffled her daughter's slightly spiked hair. "Honestly, you and your father love your sleep a little too much."

"Come on!" Laughed her dad. "I'm not that bad!"

"You fell asleep on the beach the other day when you were supposed to be running the surf shop!" Avalon laughed.

Her dad smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "It was an off day, no one was out there!"

"I still don't think that's an excuse to lay down on the job." Said Lyle as he took a bite of his pancake. "Maybe I should tell my dad you've been slacking off. He's been asking for an excuse to come back down here and spar with you."

"Are you blackmailing me, Lyle? I'm shocked!" Her dad fake gasped.

Lyle shrugged as he bit into his pancakes. "Being the son of the mayor does have its perks."

"Oh and I'll be sure to tell Riku that his son is abusing said power." Argued her dad. "And I'm sure West would love to hear the same thing about her son."

Avalon Laughed as she leaned closer to Lyle. "Don't worry, me and mom have plenty of blackmail of pictures of him sleeping on the beach when he's supposed to be working."

Her mom gasped in surprise. "Avalon, that was a secret!"

"Oh, thanks a lot you guys, glad to know my family respects my privacy." Laughed her dad. Before too long, they had finished their breakfast, leaving Avalon's mom to shoo them out the door so they wouldn't be late for school. As she put away the dishes, she noticed her husband was still sitting at the table and his expression had suddenly turned grim. He knew what his wife was going to say; she'd been bringing up the same subject for the last few weeks.

"Sora?" She asked. "I know you don't want to hear this, but I really think it's time we tell Avalon the truth. I mean, she's fifteen now, she can't stay ignorant forever. She's growing up." She said, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder.

Sora sighed as he ran his fingers through his spiky hair. "I know, I know Kairi. I just want to keep her safe. Avalon has no idea what's waiting for her out there and I intend to keep it that way for as long as I possibly can."

~*KH*~

Deep in a dark room many worlds away, a lone figure sat on a throne. He was dressed in a black suit with gold trimming, blood red ruffles, black boots, a red collared shirt and a black cravat with a gold jewel in the centre. His unkept yet silky black hair was tied back in a ponytail with a red ribbon and yelllw eyes shone in the darkness.

"So the time has come." He smirked. "At last we shall meet, daughter of Sora and Kairi."

He held out a gloved hand and from the dark shadows appeared a keyblade. It was show and deadly, decorated in chains, rose thorns, a black rose on the teeth and on the keychain was a prominent heartless symbol.

 **So there's the prologue! We've met our hero and Sora and Kairi's daughter Avalon and Lyle who is Riku and my OC West's son! Let me know what you guys thought and be sure to leave a review! Don't worry, I haven't given up on Reconnected at all.**


	2. Chapter 1: The Next Generation

**Here's the next chapter! Thank you guys so much for all the positive feedback on this story so far! It really makes me happy to know you guys are enjoying it! In this chapter we'll get to meet more of the next generation! Hope you guys enjoy and like the new characters!**

 ** _Chapter 1: The Next Generation_**

Avalon and Lyle walked up the dirt path to Destiny Islands High School laughing and talking the whole way. These were the moments that always made her feel happy. Lyle was always there for her ever since they were children and she just couldn't imagine her life without him. Him or her parents and even Lyle's parents, she couldn't stand the thought of her life without them. Still after all this time, she still felt as though something was missing from her life. Avalon couldn't explain it, but she always felt as though she was meant to do more with her life than just living on these islands. Maybe there really could be other worlds out there...

"Lyle! Avalon! Hey!" A voice called out to them. Both Avalon and Lyle spun around to find three middle school kids running up to them.

The one that had called out to them was a girl around twelve with long, curly light brown hair tied in a yellow bow and brown eyes. A brown cowboy hat with a blue band around it. She was dressed in a short, yellow, overall-style dress with a pink heart on the chest. Underneath was a light purple t-shirt with a ruffled collar and sleeves. On her feet were brown cowboy boots with blue designs near the top. And on her wrist was a blue beaded bracelet. This was Ivy, daughter of Irvine and Selphie.

Next to her was another boy that appeared to be twelve years old. He had short, spiked brown hair and bright blue eyes. He was wearing a yellow, white and blue zipped-up short-sleeved hoodie with red pull strings tied in a bow bow at the collar. Blue beach shorts with the black Zanarkand abes symbol on his left pant leg and dark blue lace-up ankle boots. This was Wayve, son of Tidus and Yuna.

Lastly, was Vidina, son of Wakka and Lulu. (1) He had bright red hair that perfectly matched his father's style peaking out from under the white moogle hoodie. His red eyes matched his mother's. His muscles were well defined even though he was only thirteen. The moogle hoodie was sleeveless, had yellow pull strings crossed over the v-neck opening, a yellow front pocket, purple wings and a red pom pom on the top of the hood. He was wearing black wristbands, black knee-length pants with red trim, two crossing belts on his hips and black and red sandals.

"Hey guys!" Avalon and Lyle waved back. "Is the middle school done classes already?" She asked.

"Yup!" Wayve nodded excitedly. "Our last day of school was yesterday!"

Lyle released a soft chuckle. "It's news like that that makes me miss middle school. So where are you guys off to?"

"The play island of course!" Vidina exclaimed. "You're coming after you get out of class, right?"

"Sure." Nodded Avalon. "We'll see you guys then."

"Yeah! See you guys later!" Smiled Ivy as she, Wayve and Vidina parted ways with Avalon and Lyle with friendly waves. The two highschool students watched as the trio walked all the way to the beach where the boats to take them to the play island were waiting for them.

Once they were no longer in sight, Lyle looked down at Avalon. "We should keep going, we don't want to be late on the last day. You know how my mom is about her students being late for her classes."

"Yeah, yeah." Avalon said as she and Lyle started walking again. "What about the times she's late herself?"

"Hey!" Lyle laughed as he ruffled her spiked hair. "That's my mom you're talking about!" The two friends joined in laughter as they approached the school.

When they entered the building and took their seats at the desks, other students started to pile into the classroom. A great number of them friendly with each other and saying their hellos to Avalon and Lyle. Destiny Islands was a very small, tight-knit community and everyone in some way knew each other. The building itself was very open, letting in the beautiful, natural warmth and sunlight the tropical setting had to offer.

"Okay, okay class settle down." A cheerful voice spoke as their teacher entered the room. Immediately, all her students took their seats as she stood at her desk. She had brown eyes that perfectly matched Lyle's and her face was filled with faded freckles. Her long, messy light brown hair was tied back in a pony tail. She was dressed in a green tank top, white kapris and brown sandals. Around her neck was a white stone necklace and on her ring finger was her wedding ring.

Lyle's mother, West technically didn't have to work considering Riku, her husband was the mayor. But, teaching was something she enjoyed, despite her clumsiness in the classroom on more than one occasion.

"Now, I know you're all excited to get started with summer vacation so I won't keep you any longer than I have to."

~*KH*~

 _Twilight Town_

At Twilight Town's famous train station, a young man around fifteen with pale blonde hair sat atop its clock tower with a sketch book in hand. His hair was spiked only at the tips while the rest was smooth. His eyes were a bright, cheerful sky blue as he sketched the sunset before him. He was dressed in a school uniform with a long sleeved white shirt, an orange sweater vest with a logo on it containing a yellow silhouette of the clock tower and the letters TTHS, standing for Twilight Town high school. Around his neck was a yellow tie and he was also wearing black dress pants and matching dress shoes. Lastly, around his wrist was a checkered wristband. The young man's name was Nero and he was the son of Roxas and Naminé.

"You're here early." A familiar voice to him spoke. The blonde boy looked up to find a teen just a year older than him had arrived. He had spiked, messy red hair peaking underneath a black beanie and wearing the same school uniform as him. His eyes were bright green and shone with mischief. This was his best friend, Blaze, the son of Lea amd Lydia. They'd known each other since they were children and had been inseparable for years. Practically since birth.

"No, you're just late." Nero smiled at his friend as he sat down next to him.

"Sonya and Jenny not here yet?" Blaze asked, looking around the clock tower for their two other friends.

Nero shook his head as he set down his sketchbook and reached for a plastic bag. "No, Sonya said she had some last-minute student council stuff to do. And I think Jenny stopped at home to change since the middle got out much earlier than us." He reached into the bag and pulled out two familiar blue sea-salt ice cream bars. Nero handed one to Blaze and kept the other for himself. "Curtosey of my dad's ice cream shop." Roxas had opened up an ice cream shop while Naminé had become a professional artist.

"Thanks, dude." Blaze smiled as he took the ice cream offered to him. "Man, I get she's the student council president and everything but Sonya's way to much of an egghead sometimes." He grumbled as he took a bite of the salty-sweet treat.

"Don't let her hear you say that." A new voice spoke. Nero and Blaze turned to find a girl around twelve years old approach them. She had short black slightly spiked hair that was held back with a green headband and brown eyes. wasn't wearing a school uniform at all and instead was dressed in much more casual clothes. A collared, button-up shirt with sleeves rolled up to her elbows and a purple bandana tied around one of her wrists. Atop her shirt she wore a red sweater vest with a purple plaid tie around her neck and not tucked in to the vest and a blue denim skirt with a slightly ripped trim and a black crossbones insignia near the bottom. Her black converse had undone green laces and she was wearing baggy white socks. A black camera with a green strap rested across her chest. This was Jenny; daughter of Pence amd Naomi.

"Remember what happened last time you called her that?" She asked.

"Ugh. Don't remind me." Groaned Blaze. "I still have the bruises."

"Then maybe I need to beat some more sense into you!" A female voice exclaimed as a teenage girl joined them on the train station's room. She was fifteen-years-old and had dark brown, curly hair that reached a little ways past her shoulders. A portion of her hair with a blonde braided hair band. Her eyes were brown and she was dressed in the same school uniform as Blaze and Nero only instead of pants, she was wearing a black pleated skirt and knee-high orange socks. On her wrist was a blue beaded bracelet and around her neck was a gold bell necklace. This was Sonya, daughter of Hayner and Olette.

"And let me guess, the idea of getting your summer homework done early didn't even cross your minds?" Sonya leaned down to Nero and Blaze and placed her hands on her hips.

Slowly, Nero and Blaze looked at each other, then back to Sonya. "Summer literally just started!" Blaze wined.

"Well don't come crying to me when you guys leave it to the last minute again." She said as she pounded her fists together. "If you do then you'll you'll have to answer to my fists and my struggle bat!"

"Geez! Okay, okay I get it!" Blaze held up his hands in defeat.

Jenny giggled softly. "Well, she's not the struggle champion for nothing." Both she and Sonya joined Nero and Blaze on the edge of the clock tower as Nero handed them both their own ice cream bars.

"Well maybe this year I'll finally take that title." Nero said.

"That so?" Sonya asked, taking the ice cream from his hand. "I guess we'll see." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, round yellow crystal and held it out to the sunset. A crystal from the struggle trophy she won the last summer.

One by one, Nero, Blaze and Jenny pulled out their own crystals from the same trophy. Nero held out a blue one, Blaze had red and Jenny had green.

The four of them had been friends forever. Nearly inseparable for as long as any of them could remember. And sitting atop the clock tower looking out at the sunset with these crystals and ice creams in hand it felt like their lives were perfect and nothing could separate them or break up their friendship.

~*KH*~

 _Land of Departure_

At the Land of Departure's open grassy plaza two young warriors were training with their keyblades. The stars shone above them but they were entirely focused on their battle.

The one who clearly had the upper hand in this battle was a young man of about fifteen. He had long, unkept, spiked light blue hair that reached a little ways past his shoulders and matching blue eyes. He had a strong, muscular build and was dressed in a sleeveless, dark blue zip-up turtleneck shirt with yellow belts crossing his chest. He had long, light brown oriental pants with a white sash around his waist and a gold heart symbol on it and black arm bands completely covering his fore arms. His shoes were a simple dark blue. This was Daichi, son of Terra and Aqua.

The keyblade he was wielding was big, thick, bulky and coloured blue, yellow and gold with a keychain of the same gold heart symbol that was on the sash of his waist. It was known as Earthly Wave.

His opponent was a girl around fourteen. She had long blonde hair tied in half pigtails and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a familiar checkered wristband on one wrist, a white and purple tank top with a black hood. Crossing over her chest were two green straps with a silver heart symbol on her chest. White kapri leggings underneath green short shorts covered her legs while a black and white checkered belt rested on her hips and a black choker was around her neck. Her shoes were black and purple. This was Zephyr, daughter of Ventus and Xion.

The keyblade she was using was shorter and was mostly purple with a green wind-like ribbon flowing around the weapon. There was a silver star near the hilt and a green wing for the teeth and the keychain was a shooting star. It was known as Windwhirl Star.

Daichi was able to knock Zephyr off her feet in his last strike, causing her to drop Windwhirl Star.

"Giving up already? Come on, Zephyr I thought you were stronger than that!" Daichi laughed.

Zephyr shook her head and laughed. "Come on, I almost had you!"

"You did." Daichi acknowledged as he held his hand out to her. "You're getting better." Zephyr gladly took her childhood friend's hand as she was pulled back up to her feet.

The blonde looked up to the sky as she noticed a few shooting stars begin to fly by above them, one after the other.

"Daichi, look! A meteor shower!" Zephyr exclaimed excitedly as she pointed up at the sky.

"Really?! Wow! Look at that!" Daichi smiled as he watched the stars with her. Each glittering star passing over them, one by one each more beautiful and brighter than the last. The two friends watched the sky until the short, brief meteor shower passed.

Zephyr released a dreamy sigh as the meteor shower ended. "I love looking up at the stars. It's stil so hard to believe that each and every one of those stars is another world."

"No matter how many times our parents tell us that, it's still amazing." Daichi agreed. "One day we'll get out there."

"I can't wait for our first mission out there." Zephyr said. "Even though the heartless disappeared with Master Xehanort's defeat, I still want to do my part to protect all those worlds."

"You and me both." Agreed Daichi. "Oh! I almost forgot! Mom finally taught me how to make wayfinders!" He exclaimed as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out two handmade wayfinders. One purple and the other yellow and dark blue. "Here this one's for you." He handed her the purple one.

"Daichi, thank you!" Zephyr exclaimed happily as she held the wayfinder close to her heart. "Now our friendship's unbreakable right?!"

"Right! Well, according my mom anyway." Daichi said. "Well, we've got time before dinner, want to go another round?"

"Yeah! I'll take you down for sure this time!" Zephyr exclaimed excitedly as she pocketed the wayfinder and summoned Windwhirl Star. The two of them quickly began their battle.

Watching from the balcony above were Zephyr's parents, Ventus and Xion. The two hadn't changed much in personality intwenty years. Xion's hair had grown slightly longer and Ven's spikes in his hair had increased. They were both dressed in long robes Ven black and white and Xion's black. The outfits they had on underneath were reminiscent of what they once wore twenty years ago. They themselves along with Terra had become true keyblade masters while Aqua was the head keyblade master.

"They're really getting stronger." Ven smiled as he watched Daichi and his daughter battle. "They may even be ready to take on the mark of mastery soon."

"I think so." Agreed Xion. "I miss that, being able to fight alongside your friends."

"You miss them don't you?" Ven asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Roxas, Lea and Naminé?"

"Of course, I miss all our friends." She sighed. "But I know that with the circumstances, Twilight Town and Destiny Islands next generation couldn't know about other worlds.

Ven pulled his wife into a tight embrace. "We'll see them again."

~*KH*~

Atop his trone, a dark smirk graced the dark prince's lips. He slowly rose from his throne and held out his hand, summoning a corridor of darkness before him.

"It's time to set the prophecy in motion. I'm coming for you now, daughter of Sora and Kairi, my princess. You will be mine and nothing will stand in my way. I will succeed where Xehanort amd Maleficent failed. The heartless and I will cover the worlds in darkness."

A dark, villainous chuckle emerged from his lips as he stepped into the corridor. A clear destination in mind; Destiny Islands.

 **Thanks so much for reading you guys! I hope you guys liked the new characters! Naomi's the only one I don't own; a brief cameo and mention from my good friend DarkMaiden95's OC grown up version. I've got a few drawings of them up on my DeviantArt page and I plan to have them all up and done at some point. Don't forget to leave a review!**

 **(1): the name of their actual son in Final Fantasy X-2. Just a grown up version.**


	3. Chapter 2: Taken From The Island

**Welcome to the next chapter with the next generation! Thanks so much for all your support so far and I hope all the new characters last chapter weren't too overwhelming. I still don't own Kingdom Hearts, only the plot of this story and my OCs! Enjoy!**

 ** _Chapter 2: Taken From The Island_**

After a relatively relaxed day at school, Avalon, Lyle and the rest of Destiny Islands High School's students were finally free for summer break. The day at school was fairly relaxed with coaches Tidus and Wakka organizing a blitzball game for gym class with Avalon herselfbeing on the winning team. After the game and the return to the classroom, West treated her students to an early dismissal thanks to the blessing of principal Selphie.

Once they were free, Lyle and Avalon rusher over to the play island to meet with Wayve, Ivy and Vidina. The two teenagers were too excited that they didn't even bother stopping at home to change out of their school uniforms. They just went straight to the beach, hopped in their boat and rowed nonstop all the way to the play island.

The five of them spent their time there racing along the shoreline, splashing and swimming in the beautiful water. Then they did quite a bit of friendly sparring with each other on the beach with Avalon and Lyle using wooden swords, Wayve using a water gun, Ivy using a jump rope and Vidina using a blitzball. Quite a few one on one battles happened but Avalon soon challenged Wayve, Ivy and Vidina to a three-on-one brawl. It was close but the trio narrowly emerged as the victors. However in her one-on-one against Lyle, she managed to win.

Later on in the day, the sun began to set and Avalon and Lyle found themselves at the paopu tree. Lyle was casually leaned up against it while Avalon was perched on the bent tree's trunk. Wayve, Ivy and Vidina were laughing and talking amongst themselves near the boats.

Lyle looked up at his friend, noticing her starting to gaze off into the endless water.

"Av?" Lyle asked. "You okay?"

"Hmm?" She responded as she looked down at him. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking."

"About other worlds again?" He asked.

"Yeah." She admitted. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy here with you, my parents and everything else but..."

"But you still think there's something else out there?" Lyle finished for her.

Avalon nodded. "What if the stories are true? What if there is more than just the islands? Wouldn't you want to explore it too?"

Lyle ran a hand through his unkept silver hair. "I don't know, Av. They are just stories your dad wrote after all. It's not like our parents have seen them. But, if there really are other worlds, I would like to see them with you."

"Me too. Wouldn't that be an adventure?" Avalon smiled as she yawned, stretched her arms over her head and jumped off the tree."

"You're heading home already?" Lyle asked curiously. The sun wasn't even down yet.

"Not just yet." Avalon smiled. "I'm going to go stop by the secret place real quick. Wanna come?"

Lyle shook his head. "I'll catch up with you."

"Okay, see ya!" She said as she made her way towards the secret place. As Lyle watched her walk away, his eyes drifted up to the star-shaped fruit. He reached up and gently plucked one from the tree and gazed down at it. Lately he'd been feeling differently about his childhood friend. The way her smile made his heart race, the way her spunky, cheerful personality never failed to bring him out of a slump. The way her ocean blue eyes sparkled in the sun and how kind and friendly she was.

"Why is it so hard to tell her how I feel?" He sighed to himself. "Why can't I say it to her?"

~*KH*~

When Avalon entered the secret cave and she was greeted with the sight of all the drawings on the walls, she was immediately overcome with a sense of nolstalgia. She spotted the drawing her parents made many years ago of each other sharing the legendary paopu fruit. Her mother had even told her this was the place they shared their first kiss and actually shared the fruit when they were just a little bit older than her. Though, Avalon herself found that story to be a little more gross than romantic. Especially when she was younger.

She gently reached her hand out and touched the cave wall, her fingers grazing the drawing of her parents sharing paopu fruit. Underneath, was a smaller yet similar drawing she and Lyle made years ago when they were really young...

 _"Hurry up Lyle! Come on! Over here!" A five-year-old Avalon exclaimed as she dragged a six-year-old Lyle into the secret cave. At that age, the spikes in Avalon's reddish-brown hair were almost completely out of control yet the blue band that held a small portion remained next to her face even at that age. She had her mother's necklace around her neck and wore a simple pink and white t-shirt, a blue, pink and white skirt and brown sandals._

 _"Avalon slow down!" Lyle said as he followed her inside the cave. At that age he still wore the same yellow bandana around his wrist and his silver hair was just as unkept as his father's. He was dressed in a green skeeveless shirt, dark blue kapri pants and white sandals. "Okay, what did you want to show me?"_

 _"Look at all of this! It's a secret place!" Avalon spun around the cave and pointed at the drawing her parents made. "Mom and dad drew that when they were young like us!"_

 _"Are they sharing paopu fruit?" Lyle asked as they knelt down to look at the drawing._

 _"Yeah. They said they shared it here later on and had their first kiss here too! Gross right?" Avalon giggled._

 _Lyle handed her a sharp stone off the cave floor. "Let's draw too!" He smiled._

 _"Okay!" Avalon agreed as they both began to draw on the wall. Before too long, they had drawn each other and just spent the next few moments just sitting in the secret place._ _"Hey Lyle? Let's go out there together someday! Let's go out and have adventures together just like in dad's stories!"_

 _Lyle returned the smile. "Yeah! I'll go anywhere with you!"_

Lately, she'd been feeling differently whenever she thought of Lyle. His strength, his confidence, the way he'd always support her and their friends. The way he'd always go out of his way to help anyone who was in need...

Her eyes drifted back up to the drawing of her parents. Did they feel this way about each other when they were her age?

"So sad isn't it? Your parents going through so much and never bothering to share the story with you." A dark, eerie, unfamiliar voice echoed through the cave, causing Avalon to nearly jump out of her skin.

"Who's there?!" She demanded as she stood to her feet and spun around but found no one there with her. She knew everyone on the Islands for as long as she could remember and she definitely didn't recognize this voice.

"Well, I'm here to change that wether they like it or not." The voice seemed much closer now but Avalon couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.

The next thing Avalon knew, a gloved hand reached out and clamped itself over her mouth. Then, pulled her into a strong chest while another arm wrapped itself around her body, securing her in place. Immediately, she started struggling against her attacker

"Well, we should be off now." The voice spoke right next to her ear. Acting quickly, Avalon bit down on the hand covering her mouth as hard as she could. Her captor let out a hiss of pain and pulled his hand back.

"Lyle! Help!" She screamed at the top of her lungs as she tried to wriggle out of her captor's grip.

But in the next second, something hard hit the back of her head. Immediately her vision turned dark and she slumped into the arms of her attacker.

"Now that wasn't very nice." The dark voice purred. "But now it's time to go." He picked Avalon up into his arms bridal style as they were both swallowed by a dark corridor.

~*KH*~

"Lyle! Help!" A terrified voice reached Lyle's ears from atop the paopu tree. He immediately turned his head to the entrance of the secret place, recognizing the voice as Avalon's.

"Avalon? Avalon!" He exclaimed as he jumped off the tree, grabbed his wooden sword and started running towards the hidden cave.

Wayve, Ivy and Vidina rushed towards him, equal concern on their faces.

"Lyle, what's going on?!" Wayve asked frantically.

"We just heard Avalon scream." Said Ivy, looking really worried.

"I don't know! I'm going to go check it out! Go back to the mainland and get some help!" Lyle ordered as he just kept running.

"You got it!" Vidina nodded as he, Wayve and Ivy rushed to the boats.

Lyle ran straight into the secret place, but when he entered, there was no sign of Avalon anywhere. "Avalon!" Lyle called out desperately, the world seemingly spinning around him as his grip on his wooden sword tightened. "Avalon where are you?!" Where could she have gone? She couldn't have just vanished could she? But she sounded so scared, what could have happened.

Just then, Lyle felt a dark presence behind him. He spun around just in time to see a dark creature with beady yellow eyes jump towards him. The silver-haired teen released a startled gasp as he swung his wooden sword at the creature but that did nothing as he was scratched on his shoulder. A second creature kept out at him and Lyle released a scream, closed his eyes and held the wooden sword in front of him.

 _The next moment Lyle opened his eyes, he was standing in a completely different space. There was darkness all around him and he was standing on a beautiful stained glass platform. Lyle looked all around him, confused._

 _At that moment, three silver pedestals appeared around him on the edge of the platform. Each supporting a different weapon; a sword, a staff and a shield._

Power sleeps within you. _A mysterious voice spoke through his mind._ Now's the time to step towards awakening it. Don't be afraid.

 _Somehow, Lyle found himself walking towards the shield. He didn't know why he was here or what was going on but somehow this felt right. He reached out his hand and took the shield off it's pedestal._

The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is this the power you seek? _The voice spoke to him. Lyle looked up at the sky and gave a short nod._ Your path is set. Now go forth and defend the ones you love. _The voice said to him as the shield vanished from his hand_

"Lyle! Lyle, son wake up!" A familiar voice pulled him back to reality. Lyle released a groan and slowly opened his brown eyes. He found himself laying on the beach, looking up at the face of an older man with short, silver hair and green-blue eyes. He was dressed in a yellow and white button-up shirt with sleeves that went down to his elbows, black dress pants and blue and yellow shoes. There was a wedding band on one finger.

"Dad? What's going on?" Lyle asked as he released a groan and slowly moved up to a sitting position, instantly recognizing him as his father, Riku and the mayor of Destiny Islands. Wait, wasn't he just in the secret place? Why was he laying on the beach now? "Wait! Avalon! Where is she?!"

"I was hoping you could tell us that." Lyle looked up, finding Sora standing above them. "Wayve, Ivy and Vidina Came up to us on the mainland and said there was trouble. You were passed out in the secret place."

Lyle tenderly cradled his shoulder, finding his school uniform ripped from the attack that monster felt to him. "I don't know. I heard Avalon scream from the secret place, I sent them to get help. When I got to the secret place, Avalon was gone. Then these monsters-" Just then, the dark creatures started appearing out of the ground all around the three of them. "Look out!"

"They're back! Get down!" Sora suddenly exclaimed as one of the creatures started leaping towards them. But then, in a flash of light, a weapon appeared in Sora's hand. It was gold and silver, had a long keychain at the end amd was shaped like a key. Sora swung the weapon towards the creature and instantly cut through it.

Lyle was stunned. His eyes went wide at the sight of Sora's weapon and him slaying the dark creature like it was nothing. "Wait, how did you-"

"Lyle get back!" Riku exclaimed as another dark creature jumped towards them. He held out his hand and another key-shaped weapon appeared in his hand. This one was decorated with bat and angel wings. Riku jumped up to his feet to stand beside Sora.

"Wait! What's going on?!" Lyle exclaimed as he watched the two men leap into battle against the dark creatures. "Where'd those keys come from?!"

"We'll fill you in later! Right now get somewhere safe!" Sora shouted as he sliced through another one of the creatures.

Lyle was so stunned at what was going on right in front of him that he could barely move a muscle. He was frozen as he watched his father and Sora battle. He couldn't understand what these creatures were, where they came from or why Sora and Riku were fighting in front of him with magical blade-like keys.

He was so stunned by the sight that he didn't realize another of the dark creatures started to sneak up behind. The creature leaped to attack just as Riku spun around to see.

"Lyle! Move!" Riku shouted at his son. Lyle held up his arms in a weak attempt to defend himself. Just as the creature was about to attack, Lyle was blinded by a bright light. The next moment Lyle opened his eyes, he was holding a weapon similar to what Riku and Sora were holding. "Wh-what the?!" Lyle gasped at the sight of it.

The weapon had a keychain at the end depicting a paopu fruit charm, a rising sun as the teeth while the rest of the weapon was coloured blue, silver and green. The name Dawn Guardian filled Lyle's mind as he gazed at it.

"A keyblade!?" Sora asked as he slayed another dark creature while looking at the weapon the teen was holding. "Lyle, when did you-?!"

"Get down!" Lyle shouted as he instinctively jumped up and slayed one of the dark creatures that was about to attack his dad with a powerful strike from his new keyblade.

Sora and Riku were stunned at the sight before them as more of the dark creatures popped up all around them. Riku, Sora and Lyle fought with everything they had against the small monsters of darkness. Lyle wasn't doing as well as the two men but his father did everything he could to defend him and heal his wounds with potions he handed him. Sora even used some fire magic which caused Lyle's jaw to drop even more.

With three of them fighting, the battle was won. Lyle was so exhausted that the weapon vanished from his hand and he collapsed to his knees to the sand.

"What are the heartless doing here?" Riku asked Sora. "They should have disappeared with Master Xehanort."

"And now Avalon's gone missing." Sora said worriedly. "Do you think-"

"What is going on?!" Lyle exclaimed as he looked up at Sora and Riku. "What were those monsters?! And that key?! And that magic Sora was using-"

"We better call Disney Castle and get in contact with Mickey. We better hurry." Riku said, turning to Lyle. "Lyle, come on. We'll explain at the house." He said as he helped pull his son back up to his feet. With that, they moved as fast as they could back to the boats and to the mainland. All the while countless questions swarmed Lyle's mind.

~*KH*~

Slowly, Avalon found herself being pulled out of the state of unconsciousness. She released a groan as she tendly rubbed the back of her head.

"Oww... what happened?" She groaned as she opened her eyes and slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position. "Wait... where am I?"

Avalon gasped in shock as she took in her surroundings. She was laying in the middle of a small, dark, freezing cold dungeon cell with brick walls and thick, iron bars blocking her way to a brick hall lined with mideaval torches. Littering the cell floor were dozens of chains, sending shivers down her spine. She had no idea where she was but this definitely wasn't Destiny Islands.

"Well, well. Look who's finally awake." That same dark, chilling voice from the island rang through the cell. "Welcome back to the land of the living, princess." At that moment, the prison bars opened and a figure in a black, gold and red suit stepped into the cell. He had icy pale skin, golden eyes and silky black hair tied in a short ponytail with a red ribbon.

"Who are you?!" Avalon demanded, trying her hardest to hide the shakiness and fear in her voice.

"Ah, yes. Forgive me." He smirked deviously. "I am Tenebrae, the Prince of Darkness."

 **And now we have a name for our mysterious villain! Thanks so much for reading you guys and be sure to leave a review!**


	4. Chapter 3: Unexpected Visitor

**Hey there readers! Thank you so much for all the amazing support you've shown this story so far! It really means a lot! I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter where we finally get face-to-face with our villain! I still own nothing kingdom hearts-related! Just the plot for this story and my OCs! Enjoy!**

 ** _Chapter 3: Unexpected Visitor_**

Avalon could do nothing but stand in the small cell, staring at this so-called prince of darkness with confusion written all over her face. "Who are you?! What do you want with me, where am I?!" She started demanding. She had no idea where she was and more than anything at that moment she wanted answers.

Tenebrae released a soft, dark chuckle. "As I just said, sweetheart I am Tenebrae, the prince of darkness. And you are in my castle's dungeon. Are you settling in well?" He cooed in a sickly-sweet voice.

"Dungeon?! Castle?! What are you talking about?! There aren't any castles on the islands!" Avalon was getting more and more confused by the second.

"Oh, there aren't?" Tenebrae feigned surprise, putting his fingers to his mouth and looking around. "I guess there's only one explanation, then, isn't there? We're not on your island anymore, princess."

"W-what?! But- Wait, are you saying this is another world?!"

"That's right, princess! Oh you're so smart!" Tenebrae snickered condescendingly.

Avalon shook her head, taking a step back. "N-no way! Those are just stories!"

"Is that what Mommy and Daddy told you? Oh, sweetheart, you have so much to learn."

Avalon was silent as she stared at the floor. There really were other worlds out there? But, if her dad knew about them and wrote stories about them then why wouldn't he just tell her? What possible reason would he have for keeping that a secret?!

She was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when she felt his gloved fingers slowly creep under her chin and tilt her head up to look at him.

"I can tell you all about it." He smirked.

"Get your hands off me!" Avalon snacked the hand away. She immediately moved to the cell's exit to run for it, but Tenebrae easily grabbed her wrist.

"Ah, ah! You're not going anywhere, sweetheart." Tenebrae smirked.

Avalon was swiftly pulled into his chest and started struggling against him. "Look, you're not going to get any ransom for me! My parents aren't rich so please just let me go home!"

Tenebrae immediately started laughing. "Oh sweet, naive kitten is that really why you thought I brought you here? Sora really hasn't told you anything! Oh this is priceless!" Avalon released a startled gasp and a grunt of pain as she was pushed down to the prison cell's floor.

She pushed herself up and looked up at him. "Wait, How do you know my dad's name?" She suddenly had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Well, who doesn't know about the legendary Sora?" Laughed Tenebrae.

"Legendary?! What are you talking about? He runs a surf shop!"

"Perhaps that's a topic for another time, princess." Tenebrae smirked as he turned on his heel and started walking towards the cell's exit. "Enjoy your alone time. You might as well get used to your new living arrangements." He smirked.

Avalon immediately jumped to her feet rushed to the bars and grasped them. "Hey! Wait don't walk away on me! I still have questions!" Avalon shouted but Tenebrae was already gone. What could she do now? She was trapped in a prison on a completely different world who knows how far away from home with some creep calling himself the prince of darkness. And what did her dad have to do with this? How could he know about other worlds? Avalon's head was spinning as she leaned her forehead against the icy bars. She couldn't help the tears from falling down her cheeks.

"Mom... Dad..." She murmured, tenderly clutching her mother's necklace. "What's going on?"

~*KH*~

On a world far away from the islands, A college-age anthropomorphic dog was riding on a skateboard all around the castle's gardens. His hair was unkept and messy and he was dressed in a baggy red t-shirt, blue pants with a vertical yellow stripe on each leg and a black sleeveless jacket with a hood, pockets and pull strings. His shoes were bright red. The skateboard he was riding was red, yellow and blue with a black mouse head symbol on the bottom.

"Hey! Max!" A familiar voice pulled him out of his thoughts. The dog looked up to find a slender, female dog with long, red curly hair. Next to her was an overweight cat dressed in blue waving at him near the garden's gate.

"PJ! Roxanne!" Max exclaimed happily at the sight of his best friend and girlfriend. Stopping his skateboard and strapping it to his back like a shield, he immediately rushed over to them. He was greeted by a tender kiss on the cheek from Roxane and a big bear hug from PJ. "Ahh! PJ! You're squishing me!"

"Oops! Sorry!" PJ started laughing nervously as he let his best friend go.

Roxanne giggled softly behind her hand. "So, our training's done for the day. What about you?"

"Yeah, dad let me go awhile ago." Max replied.

"Well, we were thinking of getting some ice cream. Want to come?" Asked Roxanne. While Max was training to be a knight like his dad, Roxanne was leaning magic from Donald and Daisy with the use of a long pink dancer's ribbon as her weapon. PJ was in training to be a knight as well but used gauntleted-covered fists as weapons

"At Huey, Dewey and Louie's?" Max asked.

"Of course! Where else?" Smiled PJ.

"Sounds great! Let's go!" Max agreed as he followed the two of them out of the garden.

 _Disney Castle_

Huey, Dewy and Louie were doing really well for themselves with their ice cream business thanks to guidance from their Uncle Scrooge. He'd even taken the triplets with them to other worlds to help in his own business ventures.

The triplets had changed a bit, gaining a little more individuality in their outfits, hairstyles and personalities. Their voices had even gotten a little deeper. (1)

After ordering their ice cream from Huey, Dewey and Louie, the three friends had started taking a walk around the town.

"So, Max how's knighthood looking?" Roxanne asked, taking a spoonful of her bowlful of Vanilla Glitz.

"It's going really well." Max said, taking a bite of his Goofy Parfait. "We had some trouble with me converting to a shield but after I showed him how my skateboard could double as a shield, Dad was cool with me not switching. He even said he wanted me to teach him some tricks. How about you guys?"

"Dad's been getting me into sparring." PJ said with his mouth full of Rockin' Crunch. "It's been great having him back. I'm real grateful the king pardoned him and Mortimer after the battle with Master Xehanort."

"They really have come a long way since being servants of Maleficent." Roxanne smiled. "They've really been working hard to prove themselves to the kingdom."

"Yeah. I'm glad everything's peaceful and everything but I kind of miss the adventure." Max said with a sigh. "You know, going out to all those worlds-"

"Max! Roxanne! PJ!" A voice suddenly exclaimed. The trio spun around, finding Huey, Dewey and Louie rushing towards them.

"Hey guys, something wrong?" Max asked. They only just saw them to get ice cream.

Huey rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, well we were just going to grab more supplies from the moogle shops and we saw something really strange in Fruitball Plaza."

"Uh, strange how?" PJ asked, looking just as confused as Max and Roxanne were.

"Well, uh. It might be easier to show you." Dewey said as he started leading his brothers, Max and his friends to the Fruitball Plaza. The moment they stepped into the Plaza, they spotted what they were referring to. Laying slumped, unconscious on the ground was a familiar figure.

They were small with a light yellow wizard's hat atop their head decorated with an open zipper and patches. A sky blue coat with big white cuffs, brown gloves and green pants held up by a brown belt. Recognizing him, Max immediately rushed over and moved him on his back, revealing a completely black face, almost like a shadow heartless. Resting next to him was a small wooden staff.

"Vivi?!" Max asked. Recognizing the small disciplinary committee member from Twilight Town. "Vivi! Wake up!"

"Ugh..." Vivi groaned as he slowly opened his bright yellow eyes. "Max? Is that you?"

"What are you doing here? Where have you been?! I heard you, Seifer and the rest of the disciplinary committee dissapeared off Twilight Town one day after Xehanort got defeated."

"I-I don't know." Vivi said. "The last thing I remember was just walking around the woods in Twilight Town looking for clues about Seifer dissapearing."

"But, Vivi that was twenty years ago!"

"T-twenty years?!" Vivi exclaimed, completely shocked. He just about collapsed but Max and PJ caught him.

"Woah! Easy there little guy!" PJ exclaimed.

"We should take him back to the castle. King Mickey and the others will know what to do!" Roxanne said with clear worry in her voice.

"Right! Let's go!" Max said as PJ scooped up Vivi and they started moving towards the castle with PJ gently cradling Vivi in his arms.

~*KH*~

Back at the castle, Mickey and the gang were sitting in the large throne room. It was a relatively slow, peaceful day, just like nearly every day since Xehanort's defeat. They'd caught up on all the royal duties so a small card table was set up in the middle of the room with Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pete engaged in an intense game of go fish. Mortimer was playing fetch with Pluto, offering the dog a friendly scratch behind the ears. And Minnie and Daisy were enjoying a nice cup of tea together.

Since returning to the castle after the battle with Xehanort, Pete and Mortimer had rejoined the castle knights under Goofy's command. Pete was still brash and rather defiant but kept his anger under control and was just happy to spend time with PJ. Mortimer finally learned that Minnie had no intention of leaving Minnie and stopped trying to steal her away. He'd sometimes make some flirty remarks but only as a joke. He, Pete and Mickey had actually been getting along well, almost becoming friends.

"Make yer move already Duck!" Pete said irritably; Donald was taking ages to decide what to do with his turn.

"Uhh... got any fives?" Asked Donald.

Pete shook his head. "Go fish."

"Ah phooey!"

At that moment, the door to the throne room burst open and Max, PJ and Roxanne stepped in, PJ carrying a weak Vivi in his big arms.

"Oh hey there fellas." Mickey smiled when he saw them. "How's it goin' - Wait, is that Vivi?!"

"We found him in Fruitball Plaza." Louie explained. "We don't know how he got there." Immediately, everyone rushed to Vivi's side as PJ gently set him down.

"That's the little kid from Twilight town, right?" Minnie asked.

"Yeah I think so." Mortimer nodded. "I heard he was always hanging around that Seifer kid."

"But, I thought they all vanished off Twilight Town. The entire Disciplinary Comitee." Said Daisy. "I always wondered what happened to them."

"Gawrsh, Vivi. Where've you been all this time?" Goofy asked.

"I'm sorry." Vivi shook his head. "All I really remember is looking for Seifer after he dissaperaed. Max said that was twenty years ago?"

Mickey nodded. "I'm sorry, Vivi. It was. We looked for you guys but after awhile we started to loose hope."

"You really don't remember anything?" Roxanne asked.

"N-no." Vivi shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"Your majesty!" A squeaky voice exclaimed. The group turned around to find Chip and Dale running towards them. "We just got an urgent call from Destiny Islands!" Chip exclaimed.

"It's Sora!" Dale added.

Donald and Goofy jumped to attention. "Sora?!" Donald gasped. "Really?!"

"Gawrsh, we haven't heard from him in years!" Goofy said. "What's goin' on?!"

"Nothing good!" Chip said. "He said his daughter's gone missing off the island! He said he thinks she might've been kidnapped!"

"What?!" Mickey exclaimed. "That's horrible! We gotta get over there and help!"

Minnie tenderly placed a hand on her shoulder. "Go on, we'll look after Vivi and take care of things here."

"Thanks, Min." Mickey smiled, then turned to the engineers. "Chip, Dale. Prepare the Highwind!"

"You got it!" Dale saluted. Without wasting a second, he, Chip, Mickey, Donald and Goofy rushed to the Gummi lab. The others stayed behind, looking just as worried about the news they'd just received about Sora.

But, Minnie took the initiative and turned to the group that was left. "Pete, Mortimer. Take Vivi to one of the guest rooms and see to it he gets some rest." She ordered.

"You got it, your majesty." Mortimer nodded as he took Vivi from PJ and started walking away with the small, weak black mage in his arms with Pete walking beside him.

Vivi started to stir and wimped. "No... you gotta let me go with them... I gotta find out what's going on out there..."

Pete shook his head. "No way! You need your rest, pal."

Max watched as Vivi was carried away, worry filling his heart. He'd traveled with Sora before and he couldn't imagine the fear in finding his daughter gone. And he'd met Vivi before in Twilight Town, they were all devastated to learn that he, Seifer, Fuu amd Rai had dissapeared. Vivi was so innocent. Max couldn't understand what could have possibly happened to them.

~*KH*~

Back in Twilight Town, in an apartment building above an ice cream shop, Nero was laying sound asleep in his bed. He was dressed in simple pyjamas of a white and black t-shirt and grey boxers. However, his sleep was soon interrupted by the sound of his cell phone ringing.

"Huh...?" Who could be calling him this early? He tiredly picked up the phone. "Hello...?"

Nero groaned and opened his eyes, reaching for the phone and looking at the screen. The time clearly showed six am and the caller ID showed a picture of Sonya giving him a noogie.

"Ugh! Finally got ahold of you! You gotta come to the sandlot right away!"

"Why? What's going on?" All traces of sleep left Nero's body at the sound of Sonya's voice.

"I'll tell you when you get here, just hurry! Blaze and Jenny are already here with me! Bring your struggle bat!"

"Wait, Blaze got up this early?"

"That's not important right now! Just hurry up and get down here!" Nero could tell something was very wrong in Sonya's voice.

"Okay! I'm on my way!" Nero said as he hung up, jumped off his bed and got dressed in a blue shirt with sleeves that went halfway down his forearms and grey cargo pants. Overtop was a black jacket with white pockets and white collar. Around his neck was a checkered bandana and a nobody thorn necklace. Around his wrist was his checkered wristband, a chain on his hip and checkered slip-on shoes.

He grabbed his struggle bat and immediately darted to the door front door.

"Nero? Where are you off to so early?" He didn't stop to answer his mother as he dashed outside.

"Naminé?" Roxas yawned as he stepped out of their room. "Was that Nero?"

"Yes, he was just running out the door with his struggle bat..." It was very unusual for Nero to be up so early.

"Well that's weird." Roxas agreed. At that moment the phone rang. He quickly moved to the kitchen to pick it up. "Hello?" He asked after yawning.

"Roxas? You there?" A familiar voice asked.

"Lea? Why are you calling so early?" Immediately Roxas stood at attention.

"Well it looks like we got a situation down at the sandlot."

 **Thanks so much for reading you guys and don't forget to leave a review! Let me know what you think of our new villain and what you think of where the story's going.**

 **(1): Their Quack Pack forms**


	5. Chapter 4: Journey Beginnings

**Thanks so much for all the support you've shown this story you guys! I'm really happy you're enjoying it! Special thanks to DarkMaiden95 for role playing some of this chapter with me! Enjoy!**

 ** _Chapter 4: Journey Beginnings_**

Nero was running as fast as his legs could carry him as the sun was just starting the rise over the town. Sonya sounded really worried on the phone and he still didn't understand why. She never called him out this early, not even for school. Something deep in his heart told him that his friends, especially Sonya were in deep trouble.

When he entered the sandlot, he soon learned why she called him. And he saw that The feeling in his heart was spo on. In the middle of the wide open space, Blaze, Sonya and Jenny were completely surrounded by small, creepy black creatures with beady yellow eyes, trying to hold them off with struggle bats.

Jenny was still dressed in the same casual outfit as the night before with her camera slung over her shoulder while Blaze and Sonya were dressed in their own casual outfits.

Blaze's beanie still sat firmly on his head but his uniform was replaced with a black sleeveless shirt with three horizontal stripes on the front coloured red, orange and yellow. A dark red denim jacket with ripped off sleeves with colourful buttons on the left side of his chest. A red bandanna was tied around his left bicep and his left wrist had three different wristbands. His red jeans were rough and slightly worn in some spots and stuffed into black ankle boots with red laces. Lastly, there were two crossing belts on his hips; one black and one red.

Sonya's hairstyle hadn't changed from the previous day with her dark brown curled and blonde braided hairband. Her gold bell necklace and blue beaded bracelet still hung around her neck and wrist respectively. Her uniform was replaced with an orange v-neck t-shirt with a white skull and crossbones on it, a black vest, baggy denim kapris and black sneakers with orange laces.

"Guys!" Nero exclaimed, rushing to them without any hesitation. Immediately he rushed to their side.

"Geez, took you long enough!" Blaze exclaimed as one of the dark creatures jumped towards him. Luckily, the redhead was able to side jump out of the way.

"What are these things?!" Jenny exclaimed fearfully.

"I don't know!" Sonya said as she tried to push the creatures back with her struggle bat. "They Just appeared and started attacking - Nero! Blaze! Look out!"

Just at that moment, two of the dark creatures jumped simultaneously towards the two boys. There was no time for either of them to swing their struggle bats and just braced themselves for the attack, closing their eyes. Nero waited for the pain of the sharp claws of the creatures, but it never came...

 _Nero's breathing was quick and nervous. He slowly opened his sky blue eyes and was shocked to find he wasn't in the sandlot anymore or Twilight Town for that matter. He was standing on a giant, beautiful stained glass platform in the middle of a dark space. As he looked around nervously, he saw that the dark creatures and his friends were nowhere to be found. He was completely alone._

 _At that moment, three silver pedestals appeared around him on the edge of the platform. Each supporting a different weapon; a sword, a staff and a shield._

It is time for you to embrace the power you hold inside. _A mysterious voice spoke through his mind._ Don't be afraid, follow your heart.

 _Nero didn't realize he was walking towards the staff until he pulled it off it's pedestal. Somehow, the mysterious weapon was calling out to him._

The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek? _The voice asked. Nero looked up above and gave a single nod, confirming his choice. Immediately the staff vanished from his hand._ Your path is set. Now go forth and save the ones you love from the darkness.

The next moment he opened his eyes, Nero found himself back in the Sandlot.

"Nero! Wake up! Wake up!" Sonya was standing before him, worry in her eyes.

"Sonya?" Nero asked weakly as he pushed himself up. "What happened?"

"You and Blaze got attacked then you just both passed out! Are you okay?!"

"I think so..."

At the same time Jenny was trying to help Blaze who had also just woken up.

"What happened to those...things?" Blaze asked.

As though a higher power wanted them to suffer, the dark creatures appeared around them once again.

"That answer your question?" Nero groaned. "Where are they all coming from?!"

"Hey! You guys rest! I got this!" Sonya exclaimed as she grabbed her struggle bat and rushed back into the fray.

"Sonya! No!" Nero exclaimed, reaching out to her. "It's too dangerous!" Nero was soon proven right by one of the creatures knocking Sonya off her feet and causing her to drop her struggle bat. Just when another one was about to lunge at her. "Sonya!" Nero exclaimed as he rushed in front of her without even thinking. A blinding white light appeared in his hand. "Huh...?" Nero stared as the light turned into a giant key.

It was black and white with the same nobody thorn symbol that was on his jacket zipper as both the teeth and keychain. The name Twilight Dusk filled his mind.

"What the-? What is this thing?!" Nero was so stunned at the sight of the weapon that he didn't realize another, bigger monser covered in armour was approaching.

"Get down!" Blaze's voice exclaimed. He jumped in front of his friends and similarly to Nero, the minute he held out his hands, they became engulfed in flames as another giant key appeared in his hands.

This one had a round hilt with tiny silver spikes around it while the blade itself was black and turned into a curved flame. The keychain was a silver chackram symbol. The moment it appeared in Blaze's hand, the name Inferno filled his mind.

"What?" Sonya asked, eyes wide at the sight of the key. "Nero? Blaze? When did you get those?!"

Before Nero or Blaze could answer, a Heartless lunged at the boy, causing him to instinctively swing the weapon. The creature was immediately destroyed with one powerful swing. A giant glowing heart rose into the air, vanishing seconds later.

"Just use these things!" Blaze exclaimed as he swung at another.

"Right!" Nero responded, following Blaze's lead, slicing at the monsrers with everything they had. Blaze had somehow even managed to call forth fire magic to deal massive damage while Nero managed to summon a few small blasts of ice. But no matter what they did, more and more creatures kept coming and they were starting to get worn out. Blaze and Nero even collapsed alongside Sonya and Jenny after their energy had been completely drained.

But just as a big group of the creatures jumped up to finish the four of them off, four adult figures jumped in front of them and finished them off. Three of them had giant keys of their own while the fourth had a sword.

As Nero pushed himself up, he immediately recognized them. "Mom? Dad? Lea? Hayner?" He asked. "What's going on?"

Roxas and Naminé moved to their son's side and helped him up. Just as Lea helped Blaze up and Hayner helped Sonya and Jenny up.

"Nero? Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Naminé asked.

"No, Mom im okay." Nero groaned.

"How did you get and Blaze get keyblades?" Roxas asked.

"Keyblades?" Blaze asked as he, Lea, Sonya, Jenny and Hayner approached them. "Is that what those were?"

Lea released a sigh as he and Roxas looked at each other. "I guess its finally time to explain things."

"Right." Roxas nodded. "Hayner, Naminé, you guys take Sonya and Jenny home and check the rest of the town for heatless."

"Wait. Heartless?" Jenny asked.

"Those creatures that attacked you guys." Hayner quickly explained. "Come on, lets get going, me and Naminé will explain on the way." with that, he and Naminé led Jenny and Sonya away.

At the same time, Lea and and Roxas were leading Nero and Blaze away.

"Wait, where are we going?" Nero asked. "What's going on?"

"The mansion. We have a lot to talk about." Roxas said.

~*KH*~

The moment the Highwind touched down on Destiny Islands, Mickey, Donald and Goofy stepped out and started heading for the mayor's house where they previously agreed. It didn't take them long to find it. It wasn't terribly big or fancy by any means, similar to the other houses that surrounded the island's small village but it was the only one that had two floors.

"Garwrsh, Riku's really the mayor now?" Goofy asked. "Good for him!"

Mickey nodded as he knocked on the door. "That's what he said in his letters."

The door swung open after just a few knocks. It was a face that they knew well, but he was no longer the boy that fought at their side twenty years ago. Now, the boy had become a man.

"Mickey! Donald! Goofy!" Sora exclaimed happily, happy tears beginning to form in his eyes.

"Wack! Sora?! Is that you?!" Donald exclaimed, his jaw dropping at the sight of his friend all grown up into adulthood. Goofy and Mickey looked just as surprised at the change.

Sora nodded. "Of course it's me, Donald! Who else would I be?"

Goofy ran over and scooped up Sora in a big hug. "Aw, Sora! Yer all grown up! A-hyuck!"

"Woah! Goofy you're going to knock me over!" Sora exclaimed, trying to push him off.

"Oh, oops, sorry." Goofy said sheepishly as he pulled away.

"Gosh, but I thought this was Riku's house. Where is he?" Asked Mickey.

"He and West are looking around town for any other heartless; they'll be back soon."

They looked in the house and saw Lyle and Kairi sitting at the kitchen table. The sleeve of his school uniform was pulled up, revealing a scratch wound from the heartless. Kairi was sitting next to him with a medical kit sitting on the table.

"Okay, Lyle we're just going to apply some gauze-"

"Kairi, you might as well just use magic, he's already seen us with our keyblades."

"I suppose you're right." Sighed Kairi, summoning Destiny's embrace to her hand. "Cure!"

Immediately Lyle's wound began to glow a light pale green and similarly glowing leaves danced around the wound that healed right before his eyes.

"Kairi! Is that you!?" Donald exclaimed as he, Mickey and Goofy were led into the house by Sora.

"Hey there!" Kairi waved, dismissing Destiny's Embrace. "Long time no see!"

"Okay... is someone going to tell me what's going on here?" Lyle's head was starting to spin from everything that was happening.

"Gosh, you must be Lyle!" Mickey exclaimed as he approached the silver-haired teen. "Riku told us all about ya in his letters."

Lyle just looked down at Mickey. "...you're a talking mouse."

"Believe it or not, Lyle that's not the weirdest part." The whole group turned around to find Riku and West walking through the doorway holding keyblade and knife respectively. It was Riku who had spoken.

"We found more heartless but Tidus and the others are going to help us deal with them." West said.

"Hey! I'm still waiting on an explanation here!" Lyle interrupted.

Sora sighed and ran a hand through his spiky hair. "I guess there's no point in hiding things now. Sit down, Lyle."

~*KH*~

Back at the Land of departure, Zephyr and Daichi were running down the castle halls towards the throne room, the sound of a bell echoing in their ears. The bell that rang only when someone from another world was trying to contact them with urgency and need of a keyblade weirder. For years there hadn't been any need for that bell to ring.

"What do you think is going on?" Zephyr asked her friend.

"I don't know." Daichi said. "But I'd bet its something serious."

By then, the two teens had resched the throne area where Aqua, Terra, Ven and Xion were standing and talking with each other with concerned looks on their faces. Once they realized theor children were there, they looked up to meet their eyes. They were all keyblade masters and were charged with protecting the worlds from darkness. But for twenty years the worlds were at peace and there wasnt much need for them to venture out too far.

"Zephyr, Daichi." Aqua said as she approached them. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"We heard the bell." Daichi adressed his mom. "We got worried."

Terra sighed. "It was Queen Minnie calling from Disney Castle. She told us that Mickey, Donald and Goofy just took off for Destiny Islands when heartless started showing up there."

"They also said our friend's daughter got kidnapped." Ven continued.

"Heartless?" Zephyr asked. "Didn't they disappear after you guys defeated Master Xehnort?"

"Thats what we thought." Xion said. "But there was a prophecy circling around a few years later predicting the fall of the worlds to darkness and the return of the heartless. We don't know for sure; Sora's the only one who's seen the whole thing. Because of that, out of fear he and Roxas made the hard decision of keeping Twilight Town and Destiny Islands isolted and not telg their children about the other worlds."

"But, why did you tell us?" Daichi asked curiously.

"Because we had the resources to train you two properly." Aqua said. "And this world has been training Keyblade weilders for years. Twilight Town and Destiny Islands don't."

Terra stepped beside his wife and took her hand. "We should get going. We need to go check up on the other worlds and find out where the heartless are coming from before the prophecy gets fulfiled."

"We'll split into teams of two." Said Ven. "Me and Xion the you and Aqua?"

"Sounds good." Agreed Aqua. "Daichi, Zephyr we'll be back as soon as we can." The four adults were just about to walk away when Zephyr's voice interrupted them.

"Wait! Let us help too!" She said, causing them to turn and look back. "This sounds serious, and I think we're ready to go out there."

Daichi nodded in agreement. "She's right. We've deen training for years! This could be our first mission!"

Terra, Aqua, Ven and Xion all looked to each other, contemplating the possibility.

"From the sounds of things, we'll need all the help we can get." Terra said.

As the head Keyblade Master, the final decision was left up to Aqua. She released a sigh and stepped directly in front of her son and Zephyr.

"I have a few conditions." She said, Daichi and Zephyr's eyes lighting up. "You'll take the Gummi Ship, you'll contact each of us every day and your first stop will be to go see Master Yen Sid.

"You mean it?!" Zephyr asked excitedly, a sparkle in her bright blue eyes.

"Yes." Aqua nodded. "Just stay together and be safe. Remember the worlds could be at stake here."

"Of course, mom." Daichi nodded. "We won't let you down."

"You can count on us!" Zephyr agreed. "We'll be unstoppable as a team."

Ben smiled at Daichi and his daughter. "You better get going then." He said. "The Gummi Ship's in the hangar.

With one final courteous bow from the two teens, they fled to the Gummi Garage while Terra, Aqua, Ven and Xion began to take off on their keyblade gliders.

"Think they'll be okay?" Terra asked the group worriedly. "The darkness-"

"Daichi's strong." Aqua interrupted, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder.

"He is." Agreed Ven. "Zephyr too. They really are a great team together."

Xion released a laugh. "Just like she said; they'll be an unstoppable team." With that, they all took off to the sky but Terra lingered a little behind.

 _But that was in training... this'll be out in the field..._

~*KH*~

The old mansion in Twilight Town's woods had since been remodled and Lea had moved in and raised Blaze there with his wife, Lydia for years. Currently she was away at the Sunset Terrace working on her fortune telling show. Roxas, Lea, Nero and Blaze were all sittting in the rather tidy front hall, the two teenagers just having listened to a long story about the keyblades and other worlds.

"So, let me get this straight..." Nero said. "So these things called heartless attack the other worlds and try to consume people's hearts and the these keyblades are the only things that can stop them?"

"Yeah. Pretty much." Shrugged Lea.

"We thought the heartless disappeared years ago with Master Xehanort." Roxas continued. "But a few years after, me and Sora saw this prophecy..."

Nero could see a look of worry and dread in his dad's eyes.

"Anyway, there's no point in keeping things quiet now that you two suddenly got keyblades and the heartless reappeared." Said Lea. "I got a call from Master Yen Sid early this morning warning me about this. That's how I knew to call Roxas and save you guys in the sandlot."

"Master Yen Sid?" Blaze asked.

"He's one of old Keyblade masters." Roxas quickly explained. "He said he wants to talk with you both. He predicted you'd get your keyblades with the arrival of the heartless. I'm not to crazy with you guys going out there but I trust him.

"But, how are we going to get to another world?!" Nero asked.

"The ghost train, of course!" Lea exclaimed.

"Wait, that's real?" Blaze raised an eyebrow.

"Of course! Master Yen Sid's gonna send it by in a bit to pick you guys up." Lea said.

"He'll have more information on what's going on too so it's a good place to start." Agreed Roxas.

"Hey! You boys better not be thinking of going anywhere without me!" The group of four looked to the doorway to find Sonya standing there with a worn-out Hayner behind her. They could only assume while he and Naminé were trying to take her and Jenny to their houses she gave them the slip and her dad ended up chasing after her.

"Sonya, you can't." Roxas said. "It's too dangerous."

Sonya simply shook her head. "And you think I'm going to let my two best friends face this danger by themselves? I'm going."

Finally, her father spoke up behind her. "Sonya, I'm sure you noticed but there's going to be a lot of fighting and a struggle bat's not going to do much."

She turned around to face Hayner. "Come on, Dad. Who said anything about using a struggle bat? I stopped by a moogle shop on my way here and bought these!" The brunette reached behind her back and pulled out two orange-yellow daggers in the shape of lightning bolts. The hilts were a simple black while the handles were green. They were known as Thunderbolt. "Now I'm ready to take on those heartless!"

Nero turned to Lea and his dad. "Sonya is really tough. And she's looked out for us since we were kids."

Blaze nodded in agreement. "Right. I don't think it would feel right going without her. Besides, she'll find some way to go anyway."

The three adults all looked at each other before reaching a decision.

"They do have a point." Hayner said, knowing his daughter.

"Okay, you guys." Roxas said. "But just check in with us every now and then. Now, you better hurry I think the train is coming soon."

~*KH*~

"Wait, so you're telling me that there really are other worlds?!" Lyle asked, completely shocked at what he just learned.

"Yes." Sora answered. "I know this is a lot to take in..."

"So then, Avalon..."

"It's likely she's been taken to another world." Riku said. "And based on the heartless reappearing I'd say our kidnapper is someone from the dark."

"What... what does that mean?" Lyle was really starting to worry. "We have to get her back!"

"That's exactly what I intend to do." Sora stated, clenching his fists. "Mickey, Donald, Goofy we'll gather supplies and leave within the hour?"

"But Sora, do you have any idea where she is?" Mickey asked. "Of course we're gonna help you save her, but we gotta have a plan!"

"Look on every world we can!" Sora said. "The heartless have got to be showing up on other worlds too so follow them and we should find their master."

"I'm going with you." Lyle stood up from the kitchen table. "I've got one of these keyblades now too! Let me help find Avalon-"

"Lyle, you're not going." Riku interrupted.

The silver-haired teen looked at his father in shock. "What?! Why not?!" The rest of the house's inhabitants looked just as surprised as Lyle did.

"The worlds can be dangerous and we don't know anything about who's controlling the heartless now." Riku stared sternly. "I'm staying behind too with Kairi and your mother to protect the islands-"

"Dad, I'm not a little kid! I can't just sit here when I know my best friend's in trouble! I can fight!"

"Lyle, you don't know what it's like out there! What the darkness will do to you!" Riku's voice was getting louder and sterner. Sora had never seen him this strict with Lyle before. He'd always been a calm and level-headed father.

"Oh, and you do?! I can handle it! Avalon needs help-"

"Lyle, this conversation is over. You're staying on the Islands and that's final!"

Lyle found himself at a loss for words. And instead of trying to say anything else, he ran up the stairs all the way to his room. The kitchen fell completely silent. No one had any idea what to say now. Riku released a sigh and flopped down into a nearby chair. "Think I took it too far?" Riku asked his friends.

Sora knew better than to answer that question. As a father himself, he completely understood Riku not wanting to expose Lyle to the forces of darkness.

"That may not have been the best approach..." Mickey sighed.

Riku couldn't exactly argue with that. "I know but... the darkness. What if it takes him l ike it took me?"

"Riku... we knew this day would come someday." West put her hand on her husband's shoulder.

"Gawrsh, we don't know Lyle will be tempted by darkness for sure." Goofy said.

"He's right!" Agreed Donald. "Sure he's your son but he's not all you."

Riku looked up at West. It was true, he had inherited not only her eyes but her endless devotion to do what was right.

"Your right." Riku sighed as he stood up. I'll go up and talk to him later. Right now, we need to focus on getting Sora ready to go and finding Avalon."

 **Thanks so much for reading you guys! Yeah, we all know Lyle's not going to stay put. Next chapter we'll see a bit more of Disney Castle and catch up with Avalon and Tenebrae. Thanks so much again for all the support you've shown so far and don't forget to leave a review!**


	6. Chapter 5: Departure And Escape

**Thanks so much for all the support you've shown this story so far! I'm really enjoying writing it and its always good to know people are enjoying it! I still own nothing other than the plot and my OCs. Enjoy!**

 ** _Chapter 5: Departure And Escape_**

Wayve, Ivy and Vidina were walking silently over to the mayor's house, a feeling of worry and dread across each of their hearts. Like Lyle, their parents had told them about the other worlds and the heartless. They'd been just as shocked to learn the truth but what was even more surprising to them was that Sora, Riku and Kairi were once heroes off the islands.

"It's all so hard to believe isn't it?" Wayve asked his friends as they appeoached the mayor's house. "Avalon disappearing, these weird creatures and other worlds?"

"Who knew her dad's stories were all true?" Ivy asked. "It's just all so strange."

"Well I hope we can cheer Lyle up." Vidina said as they approached the side of the house, just noticing a figure beginning to climb out of Lyle's bedroom window. "Wait, what?" Wayve squinted to get a better look. "Is that Lyle?" He asked, capturing Ivy and Vidina's attention.

"I think it is." Confirmed Ivy.

"What's he doing?" Asked Vidina.

Sure enough, Lyle had changed out of his uniform and into more casual clothes and was climbing out his second floor bedroom window with a black backpack slung over his shoulder. His clothing now consisted of a green, skin-tight, v-neck t-shirt with yellow lining. His pants were reminiscent of ones his father once wore; dark blue jeans with blue baggy pant legs overtop connected with white-studded suspenders to a black belt. They ended in kapris, rolled up with another black strap. His shoes were black, white and yellow, he had black combat gloves covering his hands and his yellow bandana still sat firmly around his wrist. Lastly, around his neck hung a silver dog tag necklace.

"Hey! Lyle, what do you think you're doing?!" Wayve called out to the sixteen-year-old.

"Huh?!" Lyle said as he spotted the trio, almost losing his balance. "Don't scare me like that! I thought you were my dad!" He sighed in relief as he used the foliage on the side of the house to finish climbing down. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"...Are you sneaking out, or something?" Vidina asked nervously.

"Of course I am!" Lyle exclaimed as he approached them. "I can't just sit by and do nothing when Avalon's in danger! I'm going to sneak on to that ship and help look for her! I don't care if it's too dangerous!" Lyle exclaimed, clenching his fist in determination.

"But, what if you get hurt?" Ivy asked fearfully. "And how are you going to explain this to Sora and Riku?!"

"You seriously think Sora would just let you tag along?!" Wayve asked. "I heard he was pretty clear when he said you weren't coming."

"Look, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!" Said Lyle. "I gotta go, I overheard that they're leaving off the beach soon." Without another word, the silverette took off without a care other than finding his friend. Not even realizing he left Wayve, Ivy and Vidina to watch him run away.

"...Should we tell his dad and Sora?" Ivy asked.

"I... I don't know." Wayve said, all three of them completely unsure of what to do.

~*KH*~

Nero, Blaze and Sonya stood in silence, standing at the platform where the ghost train was rumoured to appear. Of course, now they knew from their conversation with Roxas and Lea that this particular one of the seven wonders of Twilight Town was real. It wouldn't be long now before it whisked them away to another world to meet with this master Yen Sid they heard about.

"So, what do you think this Master Yen Sid guy's going to be like?" Asked Nero as he looked between Blaze and Sonya.

"He's gotta be someone important if we're getting sent to see him." Said Blaze.

Sonya looked at her two friends. "All I know is he better have some answers for us."

"Oh good! You guys are still here!" A familiar voice reached their ears. The three teens turned around, seeing Jenny running towards them.

"Jenny?!" Nero asked. "What are you doing here?!"

"I came to see you guys off." She said. "It just seemed like the right thing to do."

"You did?" Blaze asked. "Wow, that's actually really nice of you."

"Of course it is." Jenny smiled. "I may not understand everything that's going on, but I do know it's something serious and I want you guys to be safe."

Sonya released a sigh. "Jenny, I don't think it's the best idea for you to-"

"I know." Jenny interrupted as she pulled her green crystal out of her pocket. "I don't expect to come. But, with this, I'll be with you in spirit."

"That's right." Nero realized as he took out his own blue crystal. "With these, we'll all be together, right?" Blaze and Sonya followed suit by pulling out their own crystals. Red and yellow respectively.

"We will." Confirmed Sonya. "With these crystals, our friendship will last forever, no matter where we go."

"Or how appart we are." Blaze agreed.

At that moment, the sound of a train whistle reached their ears. The four of them looked up, finding a mystical, blue train covered in gold stars. A sorcerer's hat rested atop the train.

"So this is it." Nero took a deep breath.

"The ghost train." Blaze nodded. "Never thought we'd see it."

Sonya took a deep breath of her own and picked up her bag. "Well, we better get going, I guess."

Before the three of them could board the train, Jenny pulled them into a group hug. "Good luck, you guys!" She said with a smile. "I'll miss you!"

"We'll miss you too." Sonya said with a sad smile.

"Don't worry, once this is all solved we'll be back home in no time!" Blaze smiled.

One by one, Nero, Blaze and Sonya all boarded the train. Once they were on and gave Jenny a final wave, the doors closed and the train took off. Jenny simply watched in silence, clutching her green crystal as the ghost train left with her friends. They were on their way to a new world.

~*KH*~

Lyle was running as fast as he could down the road to the beach. Soon, he spotted his and Avalon's parents and Mickey, Donald and Goofy standing in front of the large, blocky gummi ship and talking about their plans to search the other worlds. Lyle took cover behind some bushes and waited to stow away. Taking a breath, he took a step onto the sand and started rushing towards the ship. However, he barely touched it when-

"Lyle?"

The teen cursed under his breath and froze on the spot at the sound of his father's disapproving voice. Lyle didn't turn around to see him walking towards him.

"I thought I said you weren't going?" A hand grasped his shoulder and turned him around to face Riku.

"And I thought I said I don't care what you said." Lyle retorted, not knowing what came over him. "Avalon's my friend and I can't just sit here when I know I can do something!" He held out his hand, Dawn Guardian appearing in a flash of light. "I have this for a reason! And I believe that reason is to protect the things that matter! And if you stand in my way, I'll just find another way to get off this island!"

Riku removed his hand from his son's shoulder and sighed. "Like build a raft? Yeah, I remember wanting to get off the islands."

"Wait... you what?"

Riku nodded. "Yeah, and I jumped at the first opportunity I could. I let the darkness in and didn't care who I hurt." He looked away, guilt spreading across his face. "I destroyed the islands. My home... my family... my best friends. I still regret everything I did to this day. And there is darkness out there. I just... don't want you to fall like I did."

"Dad..." Lyle was stunned. He had no idea what to say. It would be easy to insist he wouldn't fall, but Lyle knew it wasn't that simple. So this was why he didn't want him to go out, because he was worried his son would suffer a similar fate.

Finally, Sora spoke up. "Riku, you've come a long way since then. You need to give yourself more credit. Yourself and Lyle." Sora said. "You remember how young we were when we first started out? We were younger than he and Avalon are now. We both passed the Mark of Mastery exam when we were only a little older than them."

Lyle looked up at Riku. "Dad, please. I need to know I can protect my friends. I can't just stand by and hope that everything gets better. Not when I have a Keyblade. I have to have it for a reason!"

"Lyle..." Riku murmured, seemingly lost in thought and memories from the past.

"Riku, what if I make Lyle my apprentice?" Sora suddenly asked.

"What?" Riku spun around to face Sora.

"He needs to learn how to properly use his Keyblade. It would be best if he learns out in the real world instead of this tiny island."

West took Riku's hand. "He's got a point, there's no one better to teach him then those four." She said.

Riku was silent for several moments. He knew that if anyone could train Lyle to use the Keyblade, it was Sora and King Mickey.

He met his son's eyes. "Lyle. I want you to stick with Sora. Do everything he says and don't leave his side."

Lyle's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes." Riku placed his hands on Lyle's shoulders.

"Just stay with Sora and don't go off on your own."

"I won't," Lyle promised, putting his hand on Riku's. "I won't let you down!"

"Then let's get going!" Donald exclaimed. "We got work to do!"

"That's right!" Goofy nodded. "Let's go kick heartless butt and save Sora's daughter."

"Sora." Kairi pulled her husband into a hug before he left. "Just bring her home. And yourself. I can't..."

"Shhh... don't think about that, Kairi. We'll ALL come home. Together. I promise."

~*KH*~

A soft, tired and pained groan escaped the small black mage. His yellow eyes slowly fluttered open, finding himself in an unfamiliar room with bright blue walls.

"Ugh." He moaned. "How did I get here?" Slowly, his vision began to focus and he noticed the door open, and a familiar dog walking in.

"Vivi, how are you feeling?" Max asked as he approached the bed.

"Max?" The small black mage asked as he sat up. "I'm feeling better I guess... was I really gone for twenty years?"

Max nodded. "Yeah. You, Seifer and those other two." He explained. "It was right after we defeated Master Xehanort. We were really worried about you guys, but after a few years we started to loose hope."

Vivi looked up at Max with wide eyes. "But, if I was gone so long then why'd I appear here now? And where are Seifer, Fuu and Rai?"

Max could sense the worry in Vivi's voice, but shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine." He said.

Vivi immediately jumped to his feet. "Then I gotta go out and get some answers!" Unfortunately, the sudden action was too much for Vivi to handle at that moment and soon became very dizzy. Max was able to stop him from falling by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, take it easy." Max said. "You need more rest. Don't worry, the king's out there with my dad, Donald and Sora right now. I'm sure if they find anything out they'll let us know."

"But-"

"You just almost fainted." Max spoke like a concerned older brother. "Just get some more rest for now."

Vivi watched as Max left the guest room. He lay there in the comfy bed for a few moments but his heart was too full of worry and anxiety for the rest of the disciplinary committee that he couldn't sleep. Slowly, he sat up again, spotting the same mysterious staff that appeared alongside him resting against the wall. Climbing out of the bed and picking up the staff, the young black mage made up His mind.

"Sorry, your majesty, everyone. But I can't just sit here. I gotta know why I was missing and what happened to Seifer..." Vivi murmured to himself as he tightly gripped the staff and left the guest room with the plan of searching for the gummi garage.

~*KH*~

Avalon paced back and forth in her prison cell, racking her brain trying to think of a way out. She was not going to lay down and be a damsel in distress if it could be helped. She knew there had to be a way to get out of this but she still wasn't sure what. The only time those bars opened was when Tenebrae came by to introduce himself.

"Oh princess." Sang that familiar voice.

Avalon looked up to find Tenebrae walking towards her and stopping in front of her cell. He was carrying a fancy, regal golden tray with a matching cover that definitely didn't look like it belonged in a dungeon.

"I thought you might be hungry, my dear."

Avalon stepped backwards warily. She wasn't sure she should trust anything her captor gave her to eat or drink.

"No? Maybe this will change your mind." Tenebrae purred, lifting the cover. Avalon immediately took in the delightful scent of the fresh steak. She began to salivate at the sight of the juices running out of the meat. Roasted vegetables and buttery potatoes adorned the rest of the plate.

"Looks delicious, doesn't it sweetheart?" Tenebrae unlocked the door and stepped inside.

"...I'm not hungry," Avalon insisted, tearing her gaze away from the food.

"Oh come now." Tenebrae purred. "You must be."

Avalon's stomach growled loudly, proving his point.

"I rest my case, princess." Tenebrae purred. "Looks much better than that disgusting commoner food you must get on those filthy islands." He spat as he sat the tray down next to the cot.

Avalon immediately snapped to attention. "Hey! you can't talk about my home like that!"

Tenebrae spun around to look at her. "Can't I?" He smirked. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm the master of this castle, sweetheart."

Her hands clenched into fists at the sound of his sickening tone. Who did this guy think he was?

"That doesn't give you a right to-" Avalon was interrupted by Tenebrae stepping directly in front of her, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her against his chest.

"I believe it does. You're in my castle, my dungeon." Tenebrae smirked, tenderly stroking her cheek with his gloved finger. "Now, you might as well get used to being my prisoner, kitten, because you're never leaving me."

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that he left her cell door open. Avalon looked directly into Tenebrae's eyes and allowed her hand to curl into a fist once again.

"Wanna bet?" She snapped as she used every ounce of her strength to punch Tenebrae clean across his face. This caused him to release the hold he had on her and fall to his knees. The auburn-haired girl didn't waste a second in sprinting for the cell door and closing it on Tenebrae. She didn't know where she was going, all she knew was she had to get away from her captor. All she could hear as she ran from Tenebrae through the halls of the dungeon was the sound of her own heartbeat and his angry voice calling out to her.

 **Looks like Avalon's making a break for it! Will she manage to escape? Find out next chapter! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated so be sure to leave one!**


	7. Chapter 6: The Heartless

**Hey there guys! Check out the fancy new cover art! I comissioned a piece of our girl Avalon from one of my favouite DeviantArt artists Skirtzzz! Go check out all her art, she's fantastic! I especially have always loved her Disney Final Fantasy dressphere series. Thanks so much for all the support you've showed this story so far and enjoy the chapter!**

 ** _Chapter 6: The Heartless_**

Avalon's heart was racing as she ran harder and faster than she ever had in her entire life. It was as though she were using all the energy from her time running along the beach to try and escape her captor. The twists and turns of the dungeon halls sent her running into the brick halls, nearly every area looking just like the last. It was like a labyrinth. She was terrified that Tenebrae would break out of her cell and catch up to her at any second, but it was that fear that made her push herself.

As though a higher power was listening to her prayers, she found herself in an open square area with a staircase at the end. At the top of the stairs was a door, a clear exit to the dark and creepy dungeon. A hopeful smile lit up her face, finally feeling that she'd be one more step closer to freedom if she could just reach the door. But, no sooner had she taken the first step on the stairs and reached for the door she felt something cold and hard mercilessly wrap around her ankles.

Avalon released a startled scream as she was pulled back down to collide with the hard dungeon floor and dragged away from the stairs that led to the exit to the centre of the square-shaped open area. She wasn't sure why she was still reaching for the door as it got further away.

When she realized she wasn't being dragged anymore, The aburn-haired girl grunted in pain as she used her arms to push herself up and gasped at the sight of sturdy silver chains wrapped around her ankles, the end of the line reaching to a small swirling puddle of dark shadows. So that was what pulled her down. But, where had they come from? How did they grab her and what was that puddle? How was Tenebrae doing this? So many questions raced through her mind

Avalon was pulled out of her thoughts by the sight of more small dark puddles appearing all around her in the open brick area and small black creatures with piercing, beady yellow eyes and sharp claws emerged.

There were at least a dozen of them and they were all eyeing her hungrily.

"What?! What are these things?!" She exclaimed as she reached down and tried to pry the chains off her ankles but they wouldn't budge.

At that moment, a dark chuckle echoed through the dungeon as a dark figure started approaching her. Even in the darkness of the shadows she knew it was her kidnapper.

"Is my princess having a little trouble?" As he stepped into the light, she saw Tenebrae looking down at her. He looked more smug and amused than angry which still made Avalon feel uneasy. "You weren't trying to escape, were you, kitten?"

"What if I was?" Avalon retorted as she kept trying to pry the chains off and Tenebrae started striding towards her.

He smirked deviously at the teenager trying to break free of the little trap he prepared just in case. The way she desperately tried to get the chains off was just so amusing to him.

"Don't even try, sweetheart. Those chains won't come off that easily." Tenebrae smirked and crossed his arms. "You know, you almost ruined my beautiful face with that punch of yours. That's grounds for punishment you know. But, if you come back to your cell quietly I'll reconsider. Your food will be cold by now." He purred as he started walking towards her. As he strode, the dark creatures took off and made a path for him to walk straight towards her as Tenebrae approached. Avalon was a little surprised at how the dark creatures just did that without question.

"Are you serious?!" Avalon questioned. "You can't just keep me here! I have a family! I have a home-!"

"Oh, how precious, you miss your mommy and daddy!" Tenebrae smirked as he stood right before her, knelt down, grabbed the tie of her school uniform and brought up her close to his face, up to her feet. The chains rattled against the hard floor.

Avalon gasped at how close he was, she grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him off her school uniform.

"Why am I even here?!" She demanded.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head." Tenebrae purred as he used the grip he had on her tie to pull her up even closer to his face. "Now, why don't we put you back in your cell?"

"Let me go!" She exclaimed. She threw her free hand at his face.

But, Tenebrae easily caught it. "Nice try, but I'm not falling for that again. Let's get going, if you don't make another run for it, I'll forgive you." Tenebrae tightened the grip he had on her tie and started dragging her back the way she just ran from.

"No! Let go! I'm not staying here!" She protested and struggled.

"Sweetheart, you can't escape me so do stop trying." Tenebrae stopped walking to look into her ocean blue eyes.

"No! I won't stop!" Avalon pushed against him. "Now let me go!"

But just as Avalon pushed against Tehebrae's chest, a blinding flash of light appeared between them. The force caused the two of them to separate and fly to opposite ends of the dungeon and for Avalon's tie to become free of her neck and stay in Tenebrae's hand. Avalon released a grunt of pain as she pushed herself up to her knees and gasped at a key-shaped weapon resting in her hand.

The hilt of the weapon was a blue heart with a piece that wrapped around the silver hilt. At the bottom of the heart at one side was an angel wing and the teeth of the key was a silver crown emblem. The handle was black and there was a silver keychain at the end with a mouse head symbol at the end. As she gazed at the weapon completely stunned, the name Daylight Destiny filled her mind.

"What?!" Tenebrae exclaimed as he pushed himself up from across the room, her tie still clutched in his hand. "A keyblade?! How?!"

Avalon looked down at her chains and her new weapon and let her instincts take over. She raised her keyblade and brought it down on the chains binding her ankles and they immediately disintegrated into dark shadows. Avalon jumped up to her feet and the dark creatures started charging towards her. She swung the weapon at them and they too disintegrated from her attack.

Tenebrae snarled as he rose to his feet and raised his hand, dark corridors appearing all around the area. More of the small dark creatures jumped out and moved to attack her but Avalon managed to dodge and block. As she saw Tenebrae approach her with a dangerous look in his golden eyes, fear started to grow in her heart.

Avalon spotted a single dark corridor that was sill open; the quickest way she saw out of this prison and whatever kind of world this was. Gripping her weapon tightly, she ran straight for the corridor.

"No! Princess, get back here!" Tenebrae shouted but Avalon just kept running and dove headfirst into the corridor. The dark prince reached for her but he was too late as the corridor closed with her inside.

Tenebrae angrily turned to face the dark creatures. "Go! Find her!" He ordered as the creatures disappeared. Tenebrae looked down at the blue plaid tie he ripped from her school uniform and clenched his fist around it. "You can run, sweetheart but I will find you and drag you back."

~*KH*~

It took Vivi awhile to find the gummi garage, but he finally came across it in the castle's gardens. Chip and Dale had fortunately gone for lunch so the garage was empty save for a bright blue, yellow and green ship known as the Infinity. It was a new model Chip and Dale were working on and were very proud of it so far. It had all the same features as their other gummi ships such as radar, firepower and highly powered engines and it was just ready for a test drive.

Vivi didn't waste a second in rushing towards it and climbing inside. Just like the classic Highwind, the Infinity looked much bigger on the inside than it did on the outside with a vast, open cockpit with three plush chairs in front of the controls.

The small black mage, with some difficulty, climbed into the middle seat and looked down at the wheel and controls. Suddenly, Vivi was feeling very intimidated.

"I should have known you wouldn't stay put." A voice spoke from behind him. Vivi turned around in the chair and saw Max standing in the cockpit with him, his skateboard tucked under his arm.

Vivi sighed. "I'm sorry Max, but twenty years?! I need to know what happened and where I've been and what happened to Seifer..."

Max sighed, his hands in his pockets. "I can't imagine what you're going through and I get wanting answers. But you can't go out there alone, especially with the heartless returning."

"But, I gotta know-"

"That's why I'm going with you."

Vivi blinked a few times in confusion. "You - what?! I thought you guys said I couldn't leave."

"We said you needed your rest, not that you couldn't leave." Max corrected as he walked towards him. "You looked pretty beat up when we found you and we wanted to make sure you were okay to walk without collapsing before we took you out there."

"Oh... sorry." Vivi looked down at the floor apologetically.

"Don't worry about it." Max smiled as he ruffled Vivi's hat. "Anyway, I talked to Queen Minnie and she ok'd me to help you out."

"You're gonna help me?!" Vivi asked, his eyes lighting up. "Max, thank you!"

Max shook his head. "I know what it's like to want to get out there. Besides, I want to know what happened to you too and do my part to help with the heartless. I don't know why, but I have a feeling that this is all connected."

"You really think so?" Vivi asked curiously.

"Like I said, it's a feeling. So why don't we go out there and find out?"

Vivi nodded. "Okay! Uh, you drive okay?"

"You got it." Smiled Max as he took his seat at the helm, closed the door and prepared for takeoff.

"So where are we going?" Vivi asked.

"Well, if we want answers, the first person I can think of is Merlin. So, Radiant Garden!" With that said, the Infinity took off from Disney Castle with two passengers eager to start their journey.

~*KH*~

Lyle was truly amazed at the interior of the Highwind and the view of the vast space outside the window as they left Destiny Islands.

Sora, Donald and Goofy had taken their old seats at the helm while Mickey stood with Lyle.

"So, this is how we're going to get to other worlds?" The silver-haired teen asked, completely astonished.

"Yup." Mickey nodded. "The Gummi ship lets us travel across a number of worlds, but we gotta be careful because sometimes the heartless gave us a hard time out here. And if they're back on worlds we can only assume they'll be back in the lanes between too."

"The heartless can be in literal space too?" Lyle asked. "How does that work?"

Goofy scratched his head. "Gawrsh, I never thought about it. The heartless come in all kinds."

"Wack! We don't have time to worry about that!" Exclaimed Donald. "The heartless are everywhere! That's all that's important!"

"Right, sorry." Lyle held his hands up in defeat as he looked over to Sora. He was sitting in his centre seat at the controls and was looking through a holographic map of various strange-looking planets. Lyle couldn't help but move beside him and take a look for himself. Ones that caught his eye was a world that looked completely submerged in water, a gothic-looking castle, an island with a prominent pirate ship, a Chinese palace, a city and palace surrounded by sand... "Woah, there really are a lot of world out here. Where are we even supposed to start?!"

"That's a very good question, Lyle." Sora sighed. "We know it must have been someone from the darkness who took Avalon but where would we even start to look."

"Gawrsh ya think Maleficent's old allies would have any answers?" Asked Goofy.

"Maleficent?" Lyle asked curiously. "Who's that?"

"An evil witch we had to fight back in the day." Mickey explained.

"Wait, you guys actually fought a witch?! Like the one from that sleeping beauty story?!" Lyle asked Sora.

Sora nodded. "That's the one. We defeated her alongside Master Xehanort but she was a real piece of work. She allied herself with a bunch of different villains from across the worlds and wanted to use the heartless to take them over."

"Then, Goofy's right then!" Lyle exclaimed. "If anyone knows anything about these heartless coming back and what person of darkness took Avalon it's her old allies right?!"

Donald scratched his head. "Last time I checked, Hades and Captain Hook were the only ones still around."

"Hades was closest to Maleficent, so I think that's who we should talk to first." Sora stated as he typed in the coordinates.

"And while we're there I can ask Zeus for help and Lyle could get some training done!" Mickey agreed.

"Training?" Lyle asked. "What kind of world are we going to?"

"You'll see when we get there." Sora assured as he took the wheel. "Olympus Coliseum here we come!"

~*KH*~

Avalon's body ached all over and she was finding it difficult to open her eyes. She didn't realize she passed out the moment she dove into the dark corridor but she supposed she must have because it was the last thing she remembered.

The auburn-haired girl released a groan as she was finally able to push herself up to a sitting position and open her eyes.

The very first thing she noticed was sunlight. A part of her hoped she was back home and her kidnapping had all been a bad dream courtesy of just falling asleep on the beach again and eating too much ice cream. But, as her senses returned to her, she noticed this sun wasn't as warm as the one on Destiny Islands. And, she was sitting in the middle of a large area surrounded by flowers, beautifully tiled ground and a golden fountain in the centre.

This definitely felt a lot more cheerful and bright than the dark, cold dungeon she just escaped from but she knew this wasn't Destiny Islands either.

"Where am I now...?" Avalon mumbled.

 _Radiant Garden_

Avalon pushed herself up to her feet and looked down at herself. She didn't look too worse for wear; her school uniform was a little ripped and dirty and her tie was missing but other than that she didn't see anything to be too concerned about.

Avalon subconsciously gripped Kairi's necklace around her neck and took a few steps forward towards the fountain and a clear pathway.

But, just as she passed the fountain, she quickly learned she wasn't alone. Sitting on a bench was a girl around sixteen with dark brown hair tied in a high ponytail. Her eyes were closed and her ears were had earbuds plugged in, connecting to a small music player.

She was dressed in a long, flowing sleeveless blue robe with white angel wings printed on the back. A pink tank top, black skirt and brown lace-up ankle boots. There was a brown belt wrapped around her hips and her hands were covered in black fingerless gloves and there was a black ribbon tied around her left bicep. Lastly, there was a silver lion and cross greiver necklace around her neck.

The moment Avalon approached her, the girl opened her brown eyes and pulled out her earbuds, stunned at the state she was in.

"Hey! Are you okay?!" She asked as she rushed to Avalon's side, shoving the music player in the pocket of her robe.

"I-I'm fine." Avalon said.

"But, where did you come from?" She asked with genuine concern in her voice. "I've never seen you around here before. Are you from another-"

Before she could finish her sentence, she and Avalon quickly became surroundedby the same dark creatures from Tenebrae's dungeon.

"What?! What are these things doing here-" Avalon started to say, stunned at the sight of them.

"Get behind me! The heartless are back!" The brunette girl exclaimed as she stepped in front of Avalon protectively and held out her arm. Avalon's jaw dropped as she saw the metal bands around her arm morph into a round, blaster edge with two twisted angel wings. It was known as Fallen Angel. (1)

The girl aimed her blaster edge and a small blast of magic emerged from her weapon and hit one of the creatures, sending it flying. But, that didn't stop more from emerging and rushing towards the two girls.

Avalon didn't know what was going on, but she knew she couldn't let this girl fight alone. As though her instincts took over, Avalon held out her hand and her keyblade appeared in her hand.

Narrowing her eyes in determination, Avalon gripped her keyblade tightly and stood alongside the brunette girl.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the weapon Avalon was holding. "A keyblade?! How-" She exclaimed but was cut off by a heartless jumping her and Avalon destroying it with a slash from Daylight Destiny.

"We can talk later! Right now we need to stop these things!" Avalon said.

The girl gave a short nod as she adjusted Fallen Angel on her arm. "Right. By the way, I'm Nina. Nina Leonhart."

Avalon returned the smile Nina gave her. "I'm Avalon."

Their intotoduction to one another was cut short by the heartless jumping to attack them again. But the two girls were ready to fight. Avalon swung her keyblade just as she used to with her wooden sword back home. The keyblade felt so natural in her hand, as though she was meant to have it. She sliced through as many as she could while Nina used Fallen Angel to send blasts of magic and energy to attack the heartless.

Out of the two, Nina was clearly the one with the most combat experience. She was doing flips and dodges all around the garden area and knew the right time to attack with magic blasts or just slice at them when they got too close. Avalon on the other hand was struggling to keep up. She'd fought with her friends before with wooden swords but they were never out for blood like the heartless were. They were coming at her from all directions with sharp claws extended. All she could think to do was swing Daylight Destiny around just like she did with her wooden sword.

After some struggle, the heartless attacking them were defeated, leaving Avalon completely exhausted. Between running for her life from Tenebrae's dungeon, not having eaten anything side before she got kidnapped and having just overexerted herself from this battle, Avalon couldn't stop herself from collapsing to the colourful pavement.

"Avalon!" Nina exclaimed as she retracted Fallen Angel and rushed to her side. "Hey! You okay?"

"Looks like you just had some trouble. Dad was right, the heartless are getting worse by the day." A voice spoke from behind her. Nina looked up to find a tall boy around eighteen walking towards her.

He had unkept black hair that completely covered one eye while a single steel blue one was visible. He was dressed in a black leather jacket with a white fur collar and a red griever symbol on the shoulder, identical to the one on Nina's necklace. He had on a white, v-neck shirt with a pointed red cross printed on it and melding into the lining, dark, almost black jeans and brown shoes with black buckles. His hands were covered in black gloves, around his neck was a black buckle choker and a silver necklace with a ring on it and around his hips were multiple brown belts and a silver chain. A silver gun blade with jagged edges a red and black handle with a red lion symbol was in his hand, a clear sign he had just gotten out of a battle himself.

Nina recognized him as Ari Leonhart, her older brother. "They really are." Nina nodded. "I don't get it; the heartless have been dormant for years and just now they start showing up?!"

Ari gave a short nod as he spotted the figure beside his sister. "Who's your friend?" He asked as he approached her and the unconscious Avalon.

"Avalon." Nina replied. "I don't know where she came from but she looks like she's been through a lot. And the keyblade she summoned-"

"We should take her to see dad." Ari interrupted as he dismissed his gunblade.

"Huh? Why?" Nina asked, witnessing her brother pick up Avalon's unconscious body in his strong arms bridal style.

"He's the president of Radiant Garden, he's going to want to know a mystery girl with a keyblade appeared out of nowhere right when the heartless activity suddenly increased." Ari replied.

Nina gave a nod, agreeing with her big brother. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go." With that, the two Leonhart siblings started making their way to the pathway that led to the castle with an exhausted Avalon slumped in Ari's arms.

 **Thanks again for reading you guys! So if you haven't figured it out already, Nina and Ari are Squall/Leon and Rinoa's kids. Nina belongs to my best friend KittyNyuuChan95 over on Quotev. And yes, Squall's the leader of Radiant Garden now! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and be sure to leave a review and your thoughts! See you next time!**

 **(1): The same type of weapon Rinoa uses in Final Fantasy VIII**


	8. Chapter 7: A Strong Heart

**Hey there guys and thanks for tuning in to a new chapter! I'm really happy with how this one turned out and I hope you enjoy it too! I still own nothing other than the plot and my OCs.**

 ** _Chapter 7: A Strong Heart_**

Nero wasn't sure how long he, Blaze and Sonya had spent traveling on the ghost train but it felt like ages. Just how far away was this Master Yen Sid supposed to be? Nero himself had spent quite a bit of time looking out the window at all the colourful lights, almost tempted to reach into his bag and bring out his sketchbook. Sonya was standing in the centre of the train, trying to get used to weilding her new twin daggers. Blaze was sitting opposite Nero and was definitely starting to get agitated from all the sitting.

"Ugh! Are we there yet?! We've been on this train forever!" The red-head groaned as he leaned back into his seat and raised his arms over his head.

"Calm down, Blaze." Sonya scolded as she put away Twilight Thunder. "We have no idea how far apart these other worlds really are. For all we know it could be days-"

Just at that moment, the train came to a sudden stop. As the three teenagers looked out the window, they saw that they had arrived at a world completely different from Twilight Town. Outside the train's window was an area surrounded by bright ribbons of light amongst the stars in the sky. Atop a small spot of land was a tall yellow and green crooked tower surrounded by trees.

Nero and Blaze slowly turned to look at Sonya. "You were saying?" Blaze asked with a smirk while the brunette rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Well, it was a guess." She grumbled.

"Well, in any case we're here now. Let's go see this Master Yen Sid already." Nero spoke up as he stepped in between his friends and got off the train.

 _Mysterious Tower_

The moment Blaze and Sonya followed Nero off and onto the grassy surface, the ghost train vanished behind them in a flash of light.

"Wait! It dissapeared?!" Blaze exclaimed. "How are we supposed to get back!?"

"We'll just have to ask this great wizard about that." Sonya said. "Come on, let's go." With determination, she stepped forward towards the tower while the two boys followed suit.

When they reached the door, Sonya took the initiative and reached for the decorative knobs.

"Wait, should we really be barging in-?" Nero started to say but was cut off as Sonya opened the door effortlessly.

"Hm, not locked." Sonya mused.

Blaze shrugged. "Guess this Master guy really is expecting us."

"If that's the case, we better not keep him waiting." Sonya said as she stepped inside. Nero and Blaze didn't waste a second in following her up the stairs to the top of the tower. The trio of friends kept climbing up the stairs, anticipation building inside them. Roxas and Lea hadn't explained too much to them about what Master Yen Sid was like, just that he was a great old Keyblade Master and might know why the heartless have returned. They really didn't know what to expect.

As they got closer to the top of the tower, they heard voices. Was there someone else here?

"We're really sorry for disturbing you, Master but our parents thought you might have an idea on what's going on." The voice of a young man spoke through the door.

"Yeah, the heartless have been gone for twenty years." The voice of a girl spoke. "Why would they come back now?"

"Patience, both of you. We'll discuss this once the others arrive." A deep elderly voice said.

"Others?" The young man's voice asked, confused. At that moment, the Twilight Town trio reached the top of the stairs and opened the door, revealing an open office-type space. The green walls were lined with shelves full of books and large windows shaped like moons and stars. Behind a wooden desk with a skull candle was a tall, bearded old man in a blue robe and a yellow and blue pointed had. He had kind, yet stern features, this had to be Master Yen Sid.

Standing before him was Zephyr and Daichi, who looked confused by the sight of the newcomers.

However, Master Yen Sid offered a kind smile to them. "And you must be Nero, Sonya and Blaze. I've been expecting you. Do come in, there is much we need to discuss."

~*KH*~

 _Ugh, why do I keep passing out?_ Avalon sighed as her senses returned to her. She felt her body resting on a soft surface as she realsed a groan and opened her eyes. Above her was a light purple ceiling with a bright ceiling chandelier. Avalon had no idea where she was, but it still looked better than Tenebrae's dungeon.

"You okay, Avalon?" A voice she recently became acquainted with spoke. Avalon slowly opened her eyes, finding that she was laying on a soft, plush couch in what looked to be some kind of office. Nina was standing above her with a concerned look in her brown eyes.

"Uh, I think so..." Avalon said as she pushed herself up into a sitting position on the couch. As her vision continued to adjust, she saw there was a desk in the centre of the room with an older man sitting behind it. He had a very prominent scar across his face, steel blue eyes and brown hair. Around his neck was a griever necklace that matched Nina's and a black leather jacket.

Leaning against the wall behind him was Ari with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Where am I?" Avalon asked.

"My office in the castle." The older man said as he stood up from his desk and started walking towards her. "I'm Squall Leonhart, Nina and Ari's dad And the president of Radiant Garden. They brought you here after you passed out."

"Ari?" Avalon asked.

Realizing that Avalon fainted before he could properly introduce himself to her, Ari gave a small wave. "That would be me."

Nina took a seat on the couch beside Avalon. "Sorry about that, but we couldn't just leave you out there when the heartless are around."

Avalon shook her head and looked around at the three who were complete strangers to her. "Look, I don't know what's going on or where I am! I just got kidnapped from my home and this key just appeared in my hand! Can you please just tell me what's happening?!"

"Hey, hey it's alright, calm down. That's what we're going to do, okay?" Nina said as she put a hand on Avalon's shoulder. "Start from the beginning, you said you were kidnapped?"

~*KH*~

When the Infinity docked at Radiant Garden, Max and Vivi stepped onto the main plaza, finding the city of light to be almost completely deserted. The few times Max had been to this world it was always amazed him how beautiful it was.

"Okay, so where does Merlin live?" Vivi asked eagerly.

"From what I remember his house is-" Max was cut off by the two of them becoming surrounded by soldier, large body and shadow heartless.

"Heartless?!" Vivi and Max exclaimed simultaneously as Vivi fearfully hid behind Max. Max however wasted spontaneous time in whipping out his skateboard and held it in front of him like a shield.

"They reached this world too? This isn't good." He said. "Come on, Vivi let's fight!"

"F-fight?!" Vivi exclaimed fearfully as a soldier heartless jumped towards them. Max was able to knock it back with his skateboard.

"Yeah! You've got to have that staff for a reason! Can't you do magic or something?!" Max asked as he attacked a shadow that was charging at them.

"But, I've never fought before in my life-" Vivi was cut off by a large body slamming into Max and sending him flying into the pavement. "Max!"

Max released a grunt of pain as he pushed himself up and reached for a potion. But he was quickly knocked down again. "You wanted to know what's going on too! Then you need to fight!"

The next thing Vivi knew, the heartless surrounded him and lunged at him. But, instead of running and hiding behind Max like he did before, Vivi held his staff in front of him and exclaimed, "Fire!" A glowing explosion of fire burst out of his staff and hit the group of the heartless. He then rushed towards Max and helped him up.

"Nice work." Max smiled. "I knew you had it in you."

"I really didn't think I did." Vivi said, feeling proud of himself for the first time in awhile. But they didn't have too long to celebrate as more heartless appeared, and running to them. Max and Vivi looked at each other, knowing they were well over their head now. Silently, they started running into town away from the heartless that were hot on their heels. Once they rounded a corner, they spotted a weapons shop and dove inside without a second through. The both of them released sighs as they leaned their backs against the door.

As Max looked up, he noticed that the four people occupying the shop hat yet to notice them.

Standing behind the counter was a much older, yet easily recognizable Cid Highwind and three teens standing before him.

One was girl around seventeen with long, straight, waist-length blonde hair and serious brown eyes. She was dressed in a black sleeveless, low cut turtleneck with an open chest revealing a silver lightning bolt necklace. It also had a pointed bottom that revealed a tiny portion of her midriff. She had tight dark blue jeans with a long, teal piece of fabric hanging off her hip and black knee-high boots. Her hands were covered in black gloves and one arm was covered in bandages up to her elbow, a teal buckle around her bicep and a silver chain bracelet around her wrist.

The second was a boy around eighteen with spiked light brown hair and two tiny braids at the end. His eyes were a bright, kind blue. He was dressed in a simple red turtleneck that showed off his lean muscles, baggy black pants and brown zip-up ankle boots. On his hands were brown gloves and silver cuffs around his wrists. Around his hips and thigh was a brown buckled hip bag.

Lastly was a girl who looked seventeen with pig, messy black pigtails that barely reached down to her shoulders. Her eyes were red and she had a perky grin on her face. She was dressed in an off-shoulder black shirt that revealed her midriff and had yellow buckles on her shoulders. She was wearing red short shorts, yellow leg warmers and black shoes. Green and black fingerless elbow gloves covered her hands and a brown belt with multiple pockets sat around her hips. Around her neck was a prominent flowing red scarf.

"Thanks for the weapon upgrades, Cid." The blonde girl said as she picked up a heavy-looking metal sword wrapped in bandages with a red handle and blue portion on the blade.

"Alright!" The pigtailed girl exclaimed as she picked up a silver shuriken with red bandages and a yellow circle around the handle. "With this new bad boy I'll be the greatest Ninja Asassin Radiant Garden has ever seen!" She held the weapon above her head proudly.

The brunette boy shook his head as he picked up a much simpler gold and silver sword off the counter. "Kurai, I don't think you can be a ninja and an asassin-" He was very soft spoken.

"Aww, what do you know, Miles?!" The black-haired teen, Kurai pouted. "I could totally be a Ninja Asassin!" The blonde girl beside them just sighed and rolled her eyes in irritation at the roudy display.

Cid couldn't help but smile at the teens. "Not a problem. Once I heard the heartless were back, I figured you kids would be needing some upgrades." At that moment, Cid finally noticed the two newcomers to his shop. "Well I'll be! If it isn't Max! How've ya been?!"

Max offered the shopkeeper a small wave. "Hey Cid."

The blonde girl however noticed Vivi and immediately pointed her heavy sword at him, shoving Max out of the way. "Stay back! A heartless snuck in behind you!" She snarled, a scary look in her eyes.

"Ahh!!" Vivi screamed in terror as he held up his hands. "I'm not a heartless I swear!"

Max stepped in front of the girl's sword, trying to calm her down. "No! You've got it all wrong, Vivi's not a heartless he's uhh well..."

"Put the sword down, young lady." Cid ordered. "If Max says he ain't a heartless, then he ain't a heartless."

The girl obeyed Cid, lowering her blade and placing it behind her back. "Sorry." She said to Vivi. "With so many heartless around we're all a little on edge."

"Oh, uh, it's okay scary lady." Vivi said as he lowered his arms.

"It's Storm." She corrected. "Storm Strife."

"Hi! I'm Miles Fair." Miles offered a friendly wave.

"And I'm the great Ninja Asassin Kurai Valentine!" Boasted Kurai.

Cid released a chuckle as he stepped out from behind the counter. "So, Max what beings ya and yer new friend out here?"

~*KH*~

"So then, I'm on yet another world, these heartless go around to other worlds attacking people for their hearts and this keyblade is one of the only weapons that can stop them?" Avalon asked, trying to wrap her head around it all.

"More or less." Ari spoke dismissively.

"I know it's a lot to take in." Nina said.

"And this Tenebrae guy you mentioned, the one who kidnapped you..." Squall mused. "You said that was the first time you saw the heartless? He's got to be allied with them or controlling them."

"So what now?" Ari asked.

"Well, first things first." Squall said as he reached behind his desk, pulled out a small blue shopping bag with a with a prominent gold heart and key pattern on it. "As soon as I heard about you I called in a favour to the three good fairies. Something tells me you're going to need magical clothes."

"Magic clothes?" Avalon asked as Squall handed her the bag. "Magic is real too?"

"Of course!" Nina nodded. "It can be useful against the heartless."

"And since this Tenebrae guy kidnapped you we can only assume the heartless will be after you too." Ari said. "We assumed you'd need the extra protection."

"Thank you guys for everything." Avalon said as she stood up from the couch. "But I really just want to go home."

Squall gave a short nod. "Understandable given all you've been through. But keep the clothes. And I'll look into getting you taken home."

Avalon looked down at her dirty and ripped school uniform. A fresh change of clothes might not be that bad. "Okay, thank you." She said as she took the bag.

"Come on, I'll show you were you can change." Nina smiled as she took Avalon's hand and led her out of the office, leaving behind Ari and Squall.

"You really sure it's okay to just let her go home?" Ari asked his father as he returned to his desk. "You said yourself that the heartless could be targeting her. For all we know, the heartless could already be attacking her home world."

Squall took a seat and matched his son's gaze. "She reminds me of this kid I used to know. Something tells me she has a strong heart just like his."

~*KH*~

Meanwhile, Nina had taken Avalon to one of the castle's many guest rooms and told her she could change inside while Nina waited in the hall.

After a few moments, the door opened.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to keep these clothes?" Avalon asked as she stepped out of the room and back out into the hall.

Her new oufit consisted of a pink, short-sleeved hooded jacket with a zipper that was partially done up with black sleeves and yellow lining inside the hood. On one sleeve was a very prominent yellow crown symbol matching the one on the necklace her dad always wore. A blue tank top with a lace hem was underneath and she had black fingerless gloves covering her hands. Her bottom half consisted of a blue short skirt with two black belts crossing around her hips, one belt supporting a black zip-up pouch. Underneath the skirt were black shorts that reached just above her knees with vertical zippers on each leg. On her feet were simple black combat ankle boots. Her blue band stayed planted around the small side ponytail she had in her hair and her mom's necklace still rested around her neck just like they always have.

"Yeah, of course it's fine!" Reassured Nina. "The three good fairies made them for you Avie!"

"Avie?" Avalon asked.

"Oh sorry, you don't like being called that?"

"No, it's fine. You just caught me by surprise." Avalon smiled. The first time she smiled since she was taken off her island. "I really don't know what to say. You guys helping me out and the new outfit."

Nina gave a small giggle behind her hand. "Don't worry, it's what we do here. And I'll send the fairies your thanks for the clothes."

"Nina!" Ari exclaimed as he rushed up to his sister with his gunblade ready. "Dad just got word that more heartless are resurfacing in the plaza. He wants us to go take care of it!"

"Okay! I'm right behind you!" Nina nodded then turned her attention to Avalon. "Sorry, Avalon but we have to take care of this. The castle is guarded well so just wait here!" Without another word, she and Ari took off down the hall.

"Wait-" Avalon called out but they were already long gone. She stood there silent and alone in the castle's hallway.

Somehow, she ended up gazing down at her gloved hand and her keyblade appeared in a flash of light. As Avalon gazed at the weapon, her mind began to wander. Why was she given a keyblade? Was it just so she could get away from Tenebrae or was she meant to do more? From what she saw the heartless were dangerous and they said they could be attacking other worlds.

Avalon's eyes narrowed as her mind was made up. There was no way she could just sit around and wait to be taken home now. Not when the heartless were threatening other worlds and innocent people. And this keyblade had the power to stop them. With newfound determination, Avalon tightly clutched Daylight Destiny and sprinted down the castle's halls in the direction Ari and Nina left.

 **Anyone else thought Vivi was a heartless when they first played KH2? I did. Maybe because I never heard about the Final Fantasy series until after I played. So, in case you couldn't figure it out, Storm is Cloud and Tifa's daughter, Miles is Aerith and Zack's son and Kurai is Yuffie and Vincent's daughter.**

 **Thanks for reading you guys and for all the reviews and favourites you've shown so far! It really does mean a lot! Let me know your thoughts and theories! Next chapter we'll catch up with Sora and crew and Avalon may meet up with Max and Vivi! See you next time!**

 **Anonyomous review;**

 **Guest: I do plan to include some variation of Nina having sorceress powers, maybe as a limit break but you'll just have to wait and see ;) as for my other KH stories I really don't plan on giving up on them but I'm finding it really hard to finish them for multiple reasons. Maybe because I know I can't measure up to the greatness of the real KH3. Plus my work schedule is so unpredictable it's impossible to make a writing schedule. I'll keep trying but I may end up updating other stuff in between. Thank you for your support!**


	9. Chapter 8: All For One, One For All

**Hey there guys and welcome to another chapter! Thank you so much for the amazing support and I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! I'm doing a new thing over on my profile where I'm assigning voice actors and other stuff to my OCs so go ahead and check that out! I sadly don't own kingdom hearts, just the plot of this story and my OCs.**

 ** _Chapter 8: All For One, One For All_**

"The Heartless are spreading quickly." Yen Sid said, concern very clear in his words as he spoke to Daichi, Zephyr, Blaze, Nero and Sonya. The five teens were listening intently. "It truly is a cause for concern."

"Do you have any idea where they're coming from?" Nero asked. "When my dad and Uncle Lea explained things to us they said the heartless dissapeared when that Xehanort guy was defeated."

"I am not certain as of yet." Master Yen Sid sighed. "Though, I have looked into a few things and I've noticed. For one the activity of the heartless appears to be more uniform and clean, as compared to their brash, animalistic behaviour from all those years ago almost as thought they're carrying out orders."

"So someone has to be controlling them, right Master?" Zephyr asked.

"Is a strong possibility." The elderly Master gave a short nod.

"So then we need to find whoever's controlling these creeps and beat the crap out of them!" Blaze concluded.

Daichi raised his hands. "Woah, slow down! Don't we need to figure out who to direct that anger to first?"

"He's got a point." Sonya agreed with the blue-haired young man. "We need to find out where these heartless monsters are coming from and stop whoever's controlling them."

"That would be my preferred course of action." Master Yen Sid agreed. "It would benefit you greatly to see other worlds and gather information about the heartless and their current Master."

"Hey! Why don't you guys come with us!" Zephyr suggested with a big friendly grin. "We've got a ship, we could all travel together!"

"Zephyr!" Daichi exclaimed in shock. "We can't just let them on our Gummi ship! We don't know anything about them!"

"Hey! Are you saying we're suspicious?!" Blaze asked, clearly offended.

"I guess I am." Daichi stated. "We literally just met, I don't know if I can trust you."

"Oh so I'm more suspicious than the guy that dyes his hair blue?"

"Hey! This is my natural hair colour!"

Sensing that this could get ugly very quickly, Nero stepped in between Blaze and Daichi. "Hey, hold on we're all on the same side here! The last thing we want to is fight-"

At that moment there was a large rumble outside the tower.

"What was that?!" Sonya exclaimed, trying to keep her balance.

Daichi narrowed his eyes. "Sounds like we got a big heartless outside. Come on, Zephyr let's go!" He stares as he summoned Eartly Wave to his hand and rushed out the door.

"Daichi! Wait for me!" Zephyr exclaimed as she summoned Windwhirl Star and followed Daichi.

The Twilight Town trio watched as they left, unsure of what to do until Sonya spoke up. "Come on, we've got to help them!"

"Yeah, you're right." Nero nodded as he summoned Twilight Dusk. But Blaze crossed his arms stubbornly.

"I'm not going out there-"

"You're coming!" Snapped Sonya as she roughly grabbed Blaze's arm and forcibly dragged him out of the tower alongside Nero and after Zephyr and Daichi.

~*KH*~

When the Highwind docked on a world familiar to Sora and his friends, Lyle was looking around with wide eyes and childlike wonder. The golden Coliseum stood majestically before them under a bright, warm sun. The two golden warrior statues stood proudly at the gates just as they always have, while time moved forward the coliseum still stood strong.

"Whoa... this place is huge! This whole place is a Coliseum!?" Lyle asked in amazement. This whole place looked completely different than the islands.

"Well, not exactly," Sora chuckled. "This is only a small chunk of it. There's think the city of Thebes, the realm of the gods, the underworld"

"Come on, lets see if Phil and Herc are around." Suggested Goofy.

"I know they'll be happy to see us now that we're heroes!" Donald declared. With that, the group strode up to the coliseum, however, Lyle remained behind, soaking up all the information that was just revealed to him.

"Wait! There's an underworld here?! Like that story?!" Exclaimed Lyle as he ran after his teammates.

 _Olympus Coliseum_

"Hello? Phil? Herc?" Sora called as they stepped into the familiar setting of the coliseum's lobby. It felt like a wave of nostalgia washed over him at the familiar room where he prepared for so many coliseum matches on his adventures.

They immediately spotted Phil, polishing some vases and trophies. He looked just the same as they remembered with the same round figure only with a few grey hairs spouting out of his head.

"Phil!" Sora exclaimed happily

"Good timing, champ." The satyr answered, not bothering to turn around. "Give me a hand, will ya? Can ya carry more equipment to the ring? We got lots of things to set up for the games."

"Phil-" Mickey tried to step in.

But, Phil continued on without even turning around. "Look I get you been busy with the wife and kids but ya gotta know a hero's work is never done."

"Herc and Meg got married?" Goofy exclaimed.

"They have kids?!" Donald's jaw dropped at the same time.

At the sound of the familiar voices, Phil turned around and smiled at the familiar sight of the heroes. "Well I'll be Zeus's lightning bolt! Sora! Donald! Goofy! Mickey! Long time no see!"

"Phil, you're looking great! How've you been?" Sora smiled, bending down to his knees and ruffling the satyr's fur as he greeted the travelers.

Phil put his hands on his hips and puffed his chest out in pride. "Never better! And who's this little squirt?" He asked, just noticing Lyle.

"Squirt?" Lyle raised an eyebrow as he looked down at his decently toned arms. He never really thought of himself as a squirt, not since he was five.

"Oh, this is Lyle. Riku's son, and my apprentice." Sora quickly introduced the silver-haired teen.

"...Hi?" Lyle waved awkwardly.

Phil looked sceptically at the young teen. "Huh, guess I should have figured that. You do look a bit like him." The satyr said before turning his attention back to Sora. "So we haven't heard from you guys in ages. What brings ya back?"

Sora sighed, his heart heavy at the thought of his missing daughter. "Truth be told. I need a word with Hades."

"Hades?! What do you want with that ball of hot air?!"

~*KH*~

Back at Radiant Garden, Max and Vivi stared at Cid in shock. "What do you mean Merlin left?!" Max exclaimed. "Where did he go?! This is important!"

"We don't know for sure." Storm sighed, running her gloved hand through her hair. "He just said he had to take care of something on his home world."

"And where's that?" Vivi asked

"Who knows?" Kurai sighed. "He forgot to tell us before he left and we haven't been able to contact him."

"Well that's just great," Max groaned.

"We really need to talk to him!" Vivi cried. "There must be some way to contact him!"

"Well I'll sure keep trying to get in contact but I can't make any promises." Assured Cid. "Maybe I could talk to Tron or the moogles-" At that moment, a familiar blonde, spiky-haired soldier weilding a heavy Buster sword burst through the shop's doors. Max and Vivi jumped at the sudden arrival.

"We're getting more heartless in town. Tifa, Rinoa, Aerith, Zack, Yuffie And Vincent are working on getting the townsfolk and refugees to safety but we need to get rid of the heartless!" He stated in a strained voice, as though he just got out of a fight.

"Cloud?!" Max asked, recognizing the blonde soldier.

"Max is that you?" Cloud looked up but then shook his head. "Anyway, they just keep coming, and we can't stop them!"

"Then let's get going." Storm said as she readied her equally heavy sword. "Lead the way, dad."

"We're coming too." Vivi insisted. "Let us help you fight the heartless!"

"Sounds like you need all the help you can get!" Max agreed as he held his skateboard.

Miles offered a smile. "Well we appreciate it. Come on let's go!" With that, they all rushed out of the shop, ready to fight the heartless.

They really didn't have far to go to find them. A horde of shadows, soldiers and large bodies were waiting just in the streets outside the shop. Cloud led the group of teenage warriors into battle and Max and Vivi followed closely behind. Storm raised her heavy sword and slashed at a small group of soldier heartless, her long blonde hair whipping around her. Her father fought nearby, slashing a cluster of large bodies with a heavy cross-slash.

Max and Vivi were trying to help any way way they could. Vivi managed to hit a few heartless with some blizzard, thunder and fire spells while Max used skateboard to run into the heartless, dealing some quick damage. Kurai threw her shurkien and managed to hit a number of shadows but was knocked back by a large body, sending her tumbling to the ground and suffer a bit of damage. Miles used his sword to deal more quick slashes unlike Cloud and Storm's heavy strikes and cast a cure spell on Kurai.

Cloud turned to Max and Vivi. "We'll deal with the small fry, you guys go find the boss!"

"Okay! You got it!" Max nodded as he and Vivi rushed off, both ready for a fight.

~*KH*~

Nero, Blaze and Sonya ran all the way down the stairs of Yen Sid's tower. The same way they saw Zephyr and Daichi run off to. With their weapons ready, they threw the door open to see the two keyblade wielders trying to hold their own against a giant heartless. It was a great black, purple and green beast with bright yellow eyes, giant leathery wings, holding what looked to be a conductor's baton and a top hat atop his head with the heartless symbol on it. It was known as the Symphonic Sorcerer.

Daichi used his strength to attack the heartless but unfortunately he wasn't able to do much damage before the heartless used it's wings to fly out of his reach. Zephyr raised her keyblade and swung at the heartless only to be knocked back into the tower by a blast of magic from the heartless's baton.

Daichi immediately noticed the group and glared at them, particularly at Blaze. "What are you doing?!" He demanded. "We've got this!"

"We can't just sit by and do nothing! Not when we can help!" Nero exclaimed as he moved to Zephyr's side and helped the blonde girl up.

Zephyr graciously took his hand. "Thanks." She smiled, using the opportunity to cast cure on herself.

Blaze raised Inferno and moved to Daichi's side. "Like it or not, blue boy it looks like we're stuck together now. So just deal with it and take the help. Plus if I don't help, Sonya's never going to let me hear the end of it." He sighed just as Sonya joined them, gripping her new daggers tightly.

Daichi looked between Blaze and Sonya on either side of him and pushed himself up. "Okay." He nodded. "Then let's destroy this thing!"

The Symphony Sorcerer moved in to attack them but fortunately, Blaze, Daichi And Sonya dodged out of the way. Sonya openly rushed towards the Symphony Sorcerer with Twilight Thunder ready, jumped up towards it and slashed at it a few times only to get knocked back with a sound wave moments later.

Nero and Zephyr rushes to join their friends back on the front lines, Zephyr tossing Sonya a potion as she ran past. Nero threw Twilight Dusk directly at the heartless, hitting it square in the face, sending it tumbling down before his keyblade returned to his hand.

That gave Blaze and Daichi the opening they needed to release an all-out assault on the downed heartless. Blaze attacked using his newly-learned fire magic and quick strikes while Daichi used heavy damage-enduring slashes and advanced water magic.

Unfortunately, the Symphony Sorcerer didn't stay down for long and used it's wings to rise back up out of reach. Sonya threw her daggers at the heartless, managing to scrape its wings and top hat which appeared to be its weak spot.

Zephyr used Windwhirl Star to cast aero, unfortunately missing the heartless, however, Nero had another use for the lingering spell. He ran towards the small whirlwind and was launched into the air right in front of the heartless.

His teammates watched as he cast a blizzard spell, hitting the Symphony Sorcerer right in the hat, dealing the final blow. The heartless faded away as Nero returned to the ground, a crystal heart flying off into the sky.

"Alright!" Zephyr exclaimed happily. "We did it!"

"Yeah! That was great!" Nero smiled. "Guess we make a pretty good team."

"I know, it almost looks like we can work together after all." Sonya said as she smirked over at Blaze and Daichi who had already dismissed their keyblades, crossed their arms and refused to look at one another, ironically mirroring each other.

There were several moments of awkward silence in the group before Daichi released a sigh and turned to look at Blaze.

"I'm sorry I called you suspicious." He said remorsefully. "It's got to be tough having a keyblade suddenly appear in your hand and being just sent away to another world. If you and your friends are willing, we'd be happy to take you with us on our ship."

Blaze turned to look over at Daichi, a smile starting to creep on to his lips. "Well since the train we used to get here disappeared and we literally have no other way off this rock, I think we'll take you up on that."

Daichi couldn't help but let a smile creep on to his lips. "I guess I should have thought of that."

"Yeah, and I'm sorry I made fun of the way you decided to dye your hair."

"I told you this is my natural hair..." Daichi sweatdropped.

"Well a fight with a giant heartless is one way to break the ice, I guess." Zephyr shrugged.

"You'll need to stay together." The five kids turned around to find Master Yen Sid walking towards them. "In these dark times of the heartless returning you'll have to rely on each other."

"You're right, Master." Zephyr said.

"Yeah, I couldn't imagine trying to fright that thing alone." Nero smiled. "Having them to fight with definitely made it easier."

Sonya nodded in agreement. "If those two start arguing arguing again, I'll take care of it." She pumped her fist.

Daichi looked over at Blaze. "Do we really need to worry about her?"

"Dude, you have no idea." Replied Blaze.

"Now, it would benefit you greatly to visit other worlds for clues as to who we're dealing with." Yen Sid continued. "But before you go, I have something that may aid you on your journey." The elderly master approached Nero and dropped a small charm into his hand. It was a soft, natuatal green covered with images of flowers and butterflies. It was known as the Springtime charm.

"Master, is that a summon charm?!" Daichi asked.

"Correct." Master Yen Sid confirmed.

"A summon charm?" Nero asked as he gazed down at the beautiful charm in his hand. "What's it for?"

Zephyr rushed to Nero's side, eager to explain. "Oh it's really cool! When you hold it close to your heart and call for help, it'll summon an ally from another world to help us fight the heartless!"

"Wow, really?" Blaze asked, sounding impressed. "That actually does sound useful."

Daichi rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I guess we should start over. I'm Daichi."

Blaze smirked at the blue-haired teen. "Nice to meet you, Daichi. I'm Blaze."

"I'm Zephyr."

"Sonya."

"And I'm Nero."

Yen Sid silently watched as the group of newly-formed allies colclueded their introductions and made their way to where Daichi parked the Gummi Ship. They had a rocky start, but the elderly master sincerely hoped they could keep putting their differences aside.

~*KH*~

Sora told Phil everything. About how Avalon had gotten kidnapped off the islands, the return of the heartless and the thought they had about how Hades might know something about the heartless due to his past connection with Maleficent.

"And you really think Hades is gonna tell you anything?" Phil asked.

"Do you have a better idea?" Sora replied, trying not to snap.

"No, but if you insist on going down there at least take an Olympus stone with you." Phil sighed. "Herc should be back in the ring, I'll ask where he left it." He said as he went back to the arena.

"Welp, if you're going to the underworld, I'm gonna head up to Olympus to see if Zeus has any ideas." Mickey announced. "Lyle, stay here with Phil; he'll help train you."

"What?! But-" Lyle was about to protest before Sora put a hand on his shoulder.

"Lyle, you need to be strong enough to fight the heartless." Sora scolded, sounding much like the father figure he'd grown up to be.

"But Sora, you guys can't go down there alone! The underworld doesn't exactly sound like a friendly place." Lyle continued to protest. "If it's anything like the one you described in that story-"

"Which is why I'm going too." The group looked up to find an older Hercules walking towards them with an Olympus stone in his hand. Like Phil, he hadn't changed much either.

"Herc!" Sora cheered, running over to greet his old friend.

"Gawrsh it's been so long!" Goofy smiled.

"Lookin' good, Herc!" Donald said.

"Hey Sora, Donald, Goofy! Long time!" His smile quickly faded away. "Sora, I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter, but I'll do whatever I can to help. I can only imagine what you're going through."

"Thanks, Herc. You always were there for us." Sora smiled.

"Well, you have the Olympus Stone. We think Hades might know something about the guy who took her." Goofy explained.

"Then let's get going!" Hercules agreed.

"Great! In the meantime, I'll train your squirt of an apprentice!" Stated Phil.

"Stop calling me 'squirt'!" Lyle protested as Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mickey and Hercules left for their own missions and he was pushed towards arena of the coliseum.

Phil continued pushing Lyle much to the teen's dismay. "Come on, no time for chit chat!" Phil only stopped when they reached the heart of the coliseum, which Lyle couldn't help but admire. The large space, the architecture and the thousands of seats for spectators, it was more than he imagined a coliseum would be. "Okay, first things first! Drop and give me twenty!"

"You want twenty munny?" Lyle couldn't help but smirk and try to mess with the goat man a little as he reached for his wallet. "Okay, here-"

"No!" Phil comically reached up and smacked Lyle's wallet out of his hand. "Pushups! Twenty pushups squirt!"

"For the last time, I'm not-" Lyle was interrupted by being pushed down to the ground on his hands and knees.

"Let me see those pushups!" Phil ordered almost like a gym teacher. "Do you want me to make it fifty?!" Lyle rolled his eyes, followed Phil's instructions and started on the pushups.

~*KH*~

Meanwhile, Avalon was running through the city to try and catch up with Nina and Ari but hadn't had any luck. Where could they have gone? This city was huge. She was getting attacked from all directions but managing to defend herself. The Keyblade was cutting through Heartless like butter. But the heartless were still relentless in their pursuit. She turned her head to dodge an attack but didn't see where she was going, and collided with two figures just as she reached the center courtyard.

"Ow! Ugh..." Avalon rubbed her head, dizzy. "Sorry about that..." She looked up, stunned at the sight of an anthropomorphic dog with unkept hair and a kid with big yellow eyes and a big pointed hat. "Uh..." Avalon's words got lost in her mouth.

Max and Vivi pushed themselves up, eaqually stunned at the sight of Avalon.

"Oh, uh sorry about that." Vivi said. "I guess we should have been watching where we were going..."

"Yeah, our bad-" Max stopped mid-sentence as he noticed the familiar weapon in Avalon's hand. "Wait! You have a keyblade?!"

"Wait, you know about the keyblade-" Avalon's sentence was cut off by the ground beneath them starting to shake. Something told the trio that something big was coming. And they were soon proven right.

Appearing before them from the sky above was a giant heartless. It was covered in dark and red armour with a red helmet, yellow eyes, long metal claws attached to limbs that were detached from the main body. The heartless symbol was right on its chest and it looked ready to strike. It was known as the Next Gen Armour. The heartless reached its claws out to attack but luckily the three of them managed to jump out of the way.

"Listen I know we just met and everything but do you think you could use that keyblade to help us take this thing down?" Max asked.

Avalon smiled at them. "Of course. You got it!"

Avalon held on to Daylight Destiny tightly and rushed to attack only to get cut by one of the claws and pushed back. Max rode his skateboard over to her and helped back her up. Vivi raised his staff and cast a quick cure spell, healing Avalon's wounds. The Next Gen Armour agressively dove towards them but luckily Max kicked up his skateboard and used it as a shield, blocking the attack. Vivi raised his staff again, casting fire and damaging the heartless's limbs. Avalon raised her keyblade and used the heartless's focus on Max to attack it from behind, dealing a great deal of damage.

Unfortunately, that caused the heartless to turn its focus back to Avalon. It turned around and started slashing at her while she tried to fend them off. Vivi cast blizzard on the heartless's metal claws, freezing them and Avalon took the opportunity to slash at them, destroying the frozen claws. With its main tool of offence gone, Max jumped back on his skateboard and attacked, knocking it down and giving Avalon the prime opportunity to deal

Once the battle was over, Avalon let out a sigh of relief and dismissed her keyblade. She smiled and turned to Max and Vivi.

"Thanks for everything you did back there, you really helped me." She said.

Vivi shook his head. "No, you really helped us with that keyblade!"

"I really only just got it." Avalon spoke sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"There you guys are!" Cloud's voice exclaimed as he, Storm, Miles and Kurai rushed to join them while Squall, Ari and Nina joined them from the opposite end. "The heartless activity is slowling down a bit, it looks like you guys managed to get rid of a big one."

"Awesome!" Kurai exclaimed. "Way to go you guys!"

"Yeah, now I wish I could just get home and find out who that guy was..." Avalon sighed.

"Huh?" Vivi asked. "What do you mean."

"Well, I was kidnapped from my home world by this guy calling himself the prince of darkness." She explained. "They think he might be the one controlling the heartless."

Max thought to himself. "A prince of darkness huh? It could be a lead." He then turned up to face Avalon. "Hey, why don't you come with us? We have a Gummi Ship and we were going to travel to other worlds to look for clues."

Avalon was a little stunned by the offer. "Are you sure? I mean, we only just met."

"Yeah!" Vivi nodded. "We're both travelling for our own reasons! I want to find my friends and learn what's been going on all these years! And Max wants to stop the heartless! Maybe we'll find information on this prince of darkness guy and find out why he kidnapped you."

Squall stepped forward. "Avalon, go. It's your best chance. And I've known Max for awhile; I know you can trust him and his friend."

"But you have to remember to smile!" Max stated, stepping in front of Avalon. "The Gummi Ship runs on happy faces!"

Avalon couldn't help but smile. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you so much."

"Avie, If you're really leaving, I want you to have this." Nina said as she approached her and dropped a charm into Avalon's hand. It was a deep blue that reminded her of the ocean with a prominent ukulele on it. It was known as the Ohana charm. "It's a summon charm, use it and it'll summon an ally to help you fight the heartless."

"That you, Nina. This really will help a lot." Avalon smiled as she pocketed the charm and turned back to Max and Vivi. "So, if we're going to be travelling together, I guess we should introduce ourselves. I'm Avalon." She put her hand in the centre of the circle.

"Nice to meet you, Avalon I'm Max." Max said as he put his hand on top of hers.

"And I'm Vivi." Stated Vivi and he put his hand on theirs.

"All for one and one for all."

~*KH*~

Meanwhile, in the familiar dark castle that Avalon just escaped from, a group of dark villains were crowded around an elegant dining table in the middle of the dining room. There was a beautiful, dimly-lit chandelier above them and a red velvet tablecloth on the table. The walls were lined with torches that emigrated a warm glow.

Their eyes were all focused on a projection in the centre of the table of Avalon talking with Max and Vivi.

"So she took down the heartless we sent after her. Well that's a shame." A lioness with deep yellow eyes, matted grey fur and a bitten ear growled. This was Zira, Scar's former most loyal follower.

"I suppose we should have seen it coming, she truly is Sora's daughter." Sighed a tall, slender woman in a long, elegant red dress with long sleeves that formed into claws. The collar of the dress were black feathers that connected to the wings on her back. Her long, silver hair was styled in long horns, her face was covered in colourful tattoos and she had piercing yellow eyes. This was Ultamecia, a sorceress with control over time.

"Blast! What did I tell ye?!" A familiar scarlet-clad, black-haired pirate snarled. It was Captain Hook, an old member of Maleficent's circle. "The keyblade always finds a way to its chosen weilder!"

"Yeah, yeah, so you keep saying, Captain." A young man with silver hair, bright blue-green eyes and dressed in black leather. Two young men similarly dressed and with matching silver hair and eyes sat on either side of him. This was Kadaj, the embodiment of Sephiroth's will. He was joined by his brothers Loz and Yazoo, both with matching silver hair and blue-green eyes.

"The girl is strong." Spoke a skeletal figure in torn robes and horns upon his head spoke as he picked up a wine glass. "Now that she has the weapon and has found allies, she will be much more difficult to capture again." This was the Horned King.

"Yes, we may have to rethink the plan." Sighed Yazoo.

"Enough!" Everyone turned to the head at the table where Tenebrae was sitting, his dark gaze focused on the projection. Specifically Avalon. "The plan does not change. This is just a mere setback."

"Hmph and who was the one who let her escape?" A man with short golden hair grumbled. He was wearing a long white trench coat amd had a scar cut across his face.

"Seifer, enough." Ultamecia scolded her knight.

"Listen to your mistress, Seifer." A young woman with long pale pink hair tied in a side ponytail and dressed in a shirt black dress decorated with feathers and pieces of red. This was Lumina, the daughter of chaos. "Like Tennie said, it's just a minor setback."

A sea witch with wild grey hair, green-tinted skin and a slender frame spoke up. "So, what is the plan, Tenebrae, dear? What will you have us do?"

"Zira, Morgana, Captain Hook and Horned King, return to your respective worlds and continue your work. Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo, Ultamecia, Seifer and Lumina, spread the heartless. If you should find my princess you will bring her to me alive. You are dismissed."

One by one, each member of his dark legion stood up from their seats and left the dining hall. After his allies left, Tenebrae remained at the table, his golden eyes focused on the projection of Avalon. The prince of darkness smirked as he reached into his suit jacket and pulled out the blue plaid school tie he'd unintentionally taken from her. He brought the fabric up to his nose and took a deep long sniff of the tropical scent that lingered.

"You may have gotten away from me once, princess but I will take you back. You will be mine and the prophecy will be fulfilled." Tenebrae grinned darkly. "I will rule Kingdom Hearts."

 **Thanks so much for reading you guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and let me know what you guys think so far! I've got some ideas for what Disney worlds and summons I want to include but let me know what you think's going to appear! I could always use more summon ideas. And suggestions for where Lyle's team and Nero's team should go next.**

 **That last scene should give you some ideas which Disney worlds we will go to. Let's see, Zira is from _Lion King 2_ , Morgana is from _Little Mermaid 2_ , the Horned King is from the _Black Cauldron_ , Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo are from _Final fantasy VII: Advent Children_ , Ultamecia is from _Final Fantasy VIII_ and Lumina is from _Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII_. That you so much for your continued support and be sure to leave a review!**


	10. Chapter 9: Prince of Darkness

**Hey guys! Thanks so much for all the support you've shown this story! So I accidentally deleted the progress I made for this chapter so I had to start again from scratch. Thanks for being patient but in between work picking up and loosing the progress I made, I'm sorry it took awhile. Special thanks to DarkMaiden95 for helping redo this chapter and enjoy!**

 ** _Chapter 9: Prince of Darkness_**

The underworld was as dark and dreary as Sora remembered all those years ago. He could already feel his strength slipping away as he descended the stairs alongside Donald, Goofy and Hercules. But that strength was soon restored as Hercules raised the Olympus stone and restored their strength in no time.

"Whew, thanks, Herc!" Sora smiled. He looked around for the entrance to the underworld. The place was colder than he remembered, and it almost seemed bigger with the river of death flowing before them. The underdome had dissapeared, presumably sealed by Zeus once again.

"This sure brings back memories, doesn't it?" Goofy asked. "You really think Hades knows anything?"

Hercules ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "I don't know, but he's our best chance."

"His lair is at the other side of that cave, right?" Donald asked. "We should get going." With that, the group of heroes started making their way deep into the underworld.

~*KH*~

Daichi and Zephyr led their new teammates on to the Gummi Ship, the Eraqus. The main structure as green, blue and yellow with advanced weapons and defence machinery. Blaze, Nero and Sonya looked around in awe as Daichi and Zephyr took the front seats at the control panel.

"Woah, this is how we get to other worlds?!" Blaze asked as he took a seat beside Daichi; the third front seat and gazed at the controls. "How does it work?!" He reached out his hands to the control panel and steering wheel before Daichi grabbed his wrist.

"Don't touch anything." He glared at the red-head.

"Come on, all those buttons are calling out to be pushed!" Blaze pouted.

"I said don't touch anything." Daichi said.

Sonya rolled her eyes. "Blaze, come on. Leave the controls alone." She sighed. Blaze sighed in defeat but listened to Sonya and slumped into a nearby seat with his arms crossed.

"Wow, he really listens to you." Zephyr said in amazement. "Why?"

Sonya grinned in pride. "Growing up together, he and Nero know that I can deliver a full butt-kicking if needed! Perks of having a dad who runs the struggle tournaments!"

"Don't rub it in." Blaze grumbled. "It's embrassing enough to know we've been beaten up by a girl before."

"Come on." Sonya playfully punched Blaze in the shoulder. "You wouldn't need me to step in if you'd just do your homework."

"So what's the plan?" Nero asked as he took a seat, hoping to change the subject.

Daichi couldn't help but smile. The three of them clearly had a long-time friendship. "Well we need to get more information about the heartless and you guys need more training..."

"Training? Really?!" Whined Blaze. "I thought we were doing fine against that heartless!"

"You can never get too much training." Zephyr stated. "Especially when the heartless are involved. Closest world to us should be Radiant Garden..."

"Right." Daichi agreed as he started typing in the coordinates. "I think our parents have some allies there, that may be a good place to start."

"Radiant Garden?" Nero asked, intrigued. "What kind of world is that?"

Zephyr rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Well, we haven't been there ourselves. We haven't left our home world until now."

"Woah, seriously?!" Blaze asked. "So you guys are just as clueless as us out here?!"

"Not completely." Defended Daichi. "We've known about other worlds all our lives and we've studied them extensively and had keyblade training."

"At least you guys actually study." Sonya rolled her eyes.

After plugging in the coordinates, Daichi took the wheel. "Well something tells me we'll have a lot more to learn out here. You guys ready?" He asked.

"Ready as we'll ever be." Nero smiled.

"Heck yeah!" Blaze exclaimed enthusiastically. "Let's go!"

Daichi smiled as he revved up the gummi ship's engine and the new team took off in the Eraqus towards Radiant Garden.

~*KH*~

Tenebrae sat at his throne deep in the dark castle, a glass of red wine in one gloved hand and Avalon's school tie clutched in his other. He had the projection of Avalon, Max and Vivi playing before them as they led her to their Gummi Ship. He smirked as he watched the three of them board the vessel, taking Avalon away from the safety of Radiant Garden. Perfect. It was a bit of a hiccup in his plan for Avalon to summon her keyblade this early on and escape from him but he didn't doubt he'd have her back in his clutches soon. Even with Max and Vivi accompanying her; he didn't see them as a threat.

Even with all his Heartless preying on Radiant Garcen, it was still far from his wish of falling to darkness. President Leonhart was defending his world well alongside his captain of the guard, Cloud Strife, the rest of the former restoration committee and their children but they were really only delaying the inevitable. His heartless would take that world soon. A smirk spread across his lips as he took a sip of his drink.

"Hey Tennie!" The prince of darkness looked up to find Lumina striding towards him with that dark grin on her face.

And just like that, the smirk was gone. "Lumina, have I not spoken to you about that stupid nickname?"

"Aww." She pouted, leaning up against his throne and poking his cheek. "But I brought you good news."

"And what would that be?"

"It seems Sora's real worried for his daughter." She smirked. "I just found out he's out and about again looking for her. Keyblade and all."

Tenebrae met her gaze. "Sora's brought out his keyblade again? After all these years? That is intriguing."

"He just arrived at Olympus Coliseum with the king and his two idiots. He even brought Riku's son along for the ride."

"Is that so?" Tenebrae grinned darkly, dismissing the projection and setting the drink down. "Well, then I suppose I should pay a visit to the coliseum."

~*KH*~

Sora, Donald, Goofy and Hercules ran through the underworld's dark, winding tunnels fighting through the heartless that appeared and attacked them. Even with all these years of not seeing each other, fighting the heartless side by side felt so natural. Donald and Goofy offering support to Sora and Hercules while the demigod dealt heavy damage and Sora attacked with his keyblade.

However, just as the group finished off the last of the heartless in their path, a familiar cloud of dark smoke appeared before them causing Donald to nearly jump out of his tail feathers into Goofy's arms.

"Hey! Who's yacking around my underworld? Can't a god get some sleep around here?" Hades appeared before them, immediately recognizing Donald, Goofy and Hercules. "Oh seriously? You guys again? Oy vey."

"Listen, Hades, we don't want trouble," Hercules declared. "What do you know about the Heartless running around?"

"Heartless?" Hades rolled his eyes. "Oh not this again. Look, I'm not working with them this time, okay?!"

"Don't play dumb, Hades! We know you're working with the heartless again! Why else would they be running around your underworld?!" Sora snarled stepping right in front of the lord of the dead.

As Hades looked down on Sora, his eyes widened as he recognized those fierce blue eyes. "Wait, keybrat?! Is that you?!"

Sora rolled his eyes, not in the mood for the god's condescension. "Can it! Where is she?!"

"Woah, woah woah just back up a few!" Hades held up his hands. "You just say daughter? You got hitched and had a kid?!"

"What, are you jealous of Sora?" Donald quipped.

"Hardly! It just hurts that I'm the last to know, I thought we were closer than that!" Hades crossed his arms, turned away and pouted.

"Hades, that's enough." Hercules stood to Sora's side. "Just tell us what you guys did with Sora's daughter."

"Look, Wonder-breath, I don't know anything about Keybrat's offspring." Hades stated. "Didn't even know he had a kid until now."

"Why should we believe you?" Donald demanded.

"You wanna know the truth, here? Fine, okay! I'm done with the heartless! They've never helped like at all and I'm sticking to my own means of taking over the cosmos, okay?! Those things were too weak to get the job done anyway, as evidenced by that stupid Keyblade."

"Then why are the heartless running around?" Asked Hercules with a raised eyebrow.

"They run around wherever they want! I don't have any control!" Hades said, obviously irritated. "Frankly I'm glad you're here so you can get rid of them for me!"

Goofy looked towards the group. "Gawrsh, fellas I dunno, he seems pretty sincere."

"See? Dog boy gets me! I wasn't even remotely interested when that kid in the black suit came offering them to me."

"Wait, what?!" Sora demanded, intrigued. "Offering the heartless to you?!"

"A black suit?!" Donald asked.

"Oh now you're interested." Hades rolled his eyes.

"Hades start talking!" Ordered Hercules, grabbing his uncle's robe in a clenched fist.

"Okay, okay wonderboy, geez calm down." Hades exclaimed. "It was a few days ago. I was just minding my own business thinking of new ways to destroy you when this real self-important looking kid comes out of nowhere and asked me to join him in taking over the worlds or whatever with his army of heartless. Thought real highly of himself with that fancy black suit but that ponytail with the ribbon I seriously almost lost it laughing."

"Did you get his name?" Sora demanded.

"Nah, told him I wasn't interested then he left after saying his offer was always open."

All four of the light-dwellers visibly had their hopes crushed. "Let's head back to the coliseum guys, Lyle's probably finished his training by now."

"Yeah, maybe the king found something out from Zeus." Goofy agreed as the group ran out of the underworld back the way they came, leaving Hades alone.

"'Oh wow thanks for being so helpful Hades!' Yeah you're welcome! 'Oh you're such a great god I don't know what we'd do without you!'" The god grumbled in irritation as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

~*KH*~

When Avalon, Max and Vivi climbed on to the gummi ship, Avalon's eyes lit up at all the buttons and the giant windows revealing the beauty of the lanes between.

"Woah! This is so cool!" She exclaimed as she rushed over to the control panel, eager to start pushing buttons. But thankfully before she could do anything, Max grabbed her hood and pulled her back.

"Okay, slow down there." Max said. "We don't need to crash the ship before we've even left."

Avalon pouted but showed her understanding. "Fine, Sorry." She sighed in deafeat as she took one of the seats.

Vivi couldn't help but snicker at the display.

"What?" Avalon asked.

"I can't help it, just thinking you'd probably be the worst pilot." Vivi kept laughing.

"Hey! You don't know, I could be great at driving this!" Avalon grinned.

Max couldn't help but smile. "Sorry but the answer's no. I don't feel like crashing in space today." Somehow, the three of them ended up sharing a laugh as though they were old friends even though they'd only just met. At least the tension and anxiety of being strangers on this trip was lessened.

Once the group had buckled up and Max had taken the centre driver's seat he pulled up the world map to try and figure out where to go.

"So where are we going now?" Avalon asked.

"I'm not sure." Max answered honestly. "We were in Radiant Garden to try and get some answers from Merlin-"

"Merlin? As in the wizard?" Interrupted Avalon.

Vivi nodded. "Yeah, that's the one! We were hoping he could tell us where the heartless were coming from and where my friends are. And maybe he could have told us about that guy that kidnapped you."

"But Storm and the others told us that he left for his home world and they didn't know where that was-" Max was interrupted by a ringing sound echoing through the ship. The sudden sound almost caused the trio to jump out of their seats.

Max looked around the cockpit, his excellent hearing picking up where the ringing was coming from. "Avalon, it's coming from you."

The auburn haired girl reached down into the black pouch on her hip, pulling out a handheld phone with a crown-shaped case but to the islander it was a foreign onject. "What's this?" She asked as she looked it over as it continued ringing.

"Looks like a Gummiphone." Max said. "You better answer it."

"Gummiphone?" Avalon asked as she lightly pressed the green answer button. To her surprise, Nina's face appeared on the screen.

"Oh good! You finally answered!" The brunette exclaimed happily.

Avalon gazed down at the phone in astonishment. "Nina? Is that you? What's going on?! How'd you get in there?!"

"I'm guessing your world isn't familiar with the concept of phones." Nina sighed. "Don't worry, it's just a video call, Avie. This way we can stay in contact between worlds and we can call you if we have any more info! Dad thought you could use it."

"So, why'd you call?" Max asked.

"Oh right!" Nina laughed. "So, we did a little digging and I think we found which world Merlin might have gone too."

Vivi rushed over to Avalon's side so he could look into the phone. "Really? That's awesome! So now we can talk to Merlin?!"

"I think so." She replied. "We did some narrowing down of all the worlds we're aware of and think we found one that matched what Merlin mentioned about his home world before. I'm sending you the coordinates now." Seconds later, there was a beep at the Gummi ship's dash and the world map Max had been previously looking at gave them a clear route to a world with lush green forests, an old run-down castle, and a snowy area with bright colourful flags and a prominent sword in a stone.

"Wow! Thanks a lot Nina! This really helps a lot; we weren't sure where to go." Avalon exclaimed.

"Anytime guys! Good luck!" With that, Nina hung up, ending the call.

Avalon pocketed the phone as she turned to her teammates. "So I guess we know where we're going now."

"Yeah! Let's go!" Max agreed as he revved up the engine and the ship took off towards their destination.

"

~*KH*~

Lyle was about ready to fall over as he destroyed the last barrel. How had Sora been able to do this at his age? It really was exhausting having to swing his keyblade around with Phil timing him and yelling at him every few minutes. Between the pushups, the sit-ups, the lap running and now the barrel hitting Lyle had just about had enough.

"And, time!" Phil shouted, signaling his timer had stopped. "Take five squirt, you earned a breather."

Lyle wasn't in the mood to correct him again as he dismissed Dawn Guardian. Too exhausted to worry about his pride, the boy sank to his knees, grabbing a nearby bottle of water to rehydrate.

"You know, you ain't half bad kid." Phil said as he approached Lyle. "The games are starting up again soon, you really should think about signing up."

"The games...?" Lyle asked between breaths. "What games?"

"What, Sora never told ya?"

Lyle shook his head. "No, I didn't even know there were other worlds until just before we came here."

"I see." Phil said. "Well basically the games are a way to see who's the strongest. Teams and solos sign up and go head to head in matches. Sora even gave Herc a run for his money back in the day. Went one on one and Herc wasn't even holding back!"

"Sora fought in these games!?" Lyle asked, amazed.

"Course he did! Man, he really didn't tell you kids anything." Phil said. "Would have thought he'd be telling you all kinds of stories about his adventures!"

"My thoughts exactly, who would have thought the slugger would stay quiet about his adventures?" A feminine voice, unfamiliar to Lyle spoke up. The teen looked up to find a tall, slender woman with long auburn hair tied in a high ponytail. She was dressed in a long, sleeveless pink and purple dress.

The woman chuckled at Lyle staring at her. "Sorry, I couldn't help overhear. Name's Megara. Friends call me Meg, I'm Hercules's wife."

"Nice of ya to make it, sweet cheeks. Didn't bring the kids this time? Been wanting to give them some more training." Phil said.

Meg chuckled. "They've been wanting to come back too, but you gotta remember they still have school."

"Yeah true." Phil nodded. "Sorry ya missed Herc, he went down to the Underworld with Sora, Donald and Goofy."

Meg nodded. "I heard. Pegasus and I passed King Mickey on the way here. He explained everything to us and Pegasus gave him a ride up to Olympus." Meg then turned to Lyle. "You're Lyle, right. I am sorry to hear about the circumstances for your visit. At least you're getting some training in."

Lyle sighed. "Look, as much as I appreciate you taking the time to train me I really don't see how hitting barrels is going to help me find Avalon."

"Well, the Heartless are back, right?" Meg asked.

"Yeah?"

"Well you need to build up your stamina. The heartless aren't going to give you time to rest. And that Keyblade won't do you any good if you don't know how to use it." Explained Phil.

Lyle sighed. "I just... want to bring her home."

"You care about her a lot, don't you?" Meg asked while Lyle nodded. "You got Sora Donald and Goofy with you right? Sure they're heroes now but they definitely didn't start that way." Meg said as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking between her and Phil.

"Let's just say Sora isn't a quick study. Took a few adventures before he could be considered a true hero." Phil stated. "Now let's get back to training."

Lyle gave a short nod. "Right."

"Yes, by the looks of it you need all the training you can get." Phil, Meg and Lyle jumped at the unfamiliar voice and looked up to find Tenebrae standing in the arena's doorway with a smirk on his face.

"Hey! How'd you get in here?! This is private property!" Demanded Phil.

"Really? I didn't see a sign." The boy snickered. "I believe that means I can go wherever I want, old goat." Tenebrae smirked as he sauntered towards them.

"Old goat?!" Phil exclaimed as he rushed towards him. "You've got a lot of nerve-" he was cut off by Tenebrae flicking his wrist and sending him flying across the coliseum with a blast of dark energy.

"Phil!" Lyle and Meg simultaneously exclaimed in fear. How had he done that?! Meg quickly rushed to Phil's side to help him up.

"Stay our of this, old goat. You're far past your golden years." Tenebrae smirked.

"Who are you?!" Lyle demanded as he clenched his fists.

Tenebrae smirked darkly. "Let's just say we have someone in common, son of Riku." He reached into his jacket pocket and to Lyle's horror pulled out a familiar blue plaid tie.

"That's Avalon's!" Lyle gasped. "Where did you get that?!" He demanded.

"Oh, you know I saw it around the neck of the cutest girl. I liked it so much I just had to have it." Tenebrae crushed the tie in his hand, dropped it to the ground then stomped on it with his boot. "And I'm not talking about the tie."

Lyle held out his hand and immediately summoned Dawn Guardian. "Where is she?!" He demanded, pointing the weapon at the stranger.

"Oh so it's a fight you want?" Tenebrae smirked. "Fine by me." With that, he held out his own hand and a keyblade appeared in his hand in a cloud of dark shadows. The weapon was sharp and deadly with a red hilt and a black rose at the end of the hilt, chains and thorny vines wrapped around the blade. The teeth were in the form of a bat wing, the handle was gold and the keychain was the heartless emblem. It was known as Dark Desires.

"What?! You have a keyblade?!" Lyle exclaimed.

"Of course I do." Tenebrae smirked as he raised his keyblade. "Now, raise yours and let's see what you're made of."

Lyle narrowed his brown eyes in anger at the one who kidnapped his friend. "Fine. Bring it!" Lyle snapped as he raised Dawn guardian and the two boys charged at each other.

 **Thanks for reading you guys! Let's see if you can guess which Disney world Avalon's crew will head too, though I think I made it pretty obvious ;) suggestions on worlds for the other two teams are appreciated though. Sorry this took awhile but I hope it was worth the wait! Don't forget to leave a review!**


	11. Chapter 10: Lyle's First Battle

**Hey there guys! Long time no see! So I commissioned** **one** **of my favourite artists to make buttons of thirteen of the main characters from this story and they look amazing! Her shop's called Blarg Studios Artwork so go check her out! She's the best! I own nothing other than the plot and my OCs! Enjoy!**

 ** _Chapter 10: Lyle's First Battle_**

On top of Pegasus's back, Mickey landed atop Mount Olympus. In all these years, the home of the gods hadn't changed. It was still beautiful and regal as it once was. Pegasus landed at the gates and allowed Mickey to jump off his back.

"Thanks for the ride, Pegasus." Mickey petted his nose, causing the winged horse to let out a whinny of content. Mickey hadmt even taken a single step forward before a loud voice echoed through the clouds.

"Back for a visit so soon, son?! Where are my grandkids?!" A loud, thunderous yet jovial voice proclaimed through the clouds. Mickey looked up to find Zeus standing in front of the golden gates atop the staircase. He looked down to find Mickey and Pegasus.

"Sorry Zeus, but it's just me." Mickey shrugged.

Zeus smiled as he started making his way down the stairs. "Mickey! what a wonderful surprise!" Zeus exclaimed happily. once he reached the king, he picked him up and pulled him into a tight hug. "It's been far too long old friend!"

"Zeus... you're crushing me-" Mickey cringed in discomfort at the tight hold.

"Oops. Sorry." Zeus laughed in embarrassment as he set Mickey back down. "So what brings you all the way up here?"

Mickey sighed. "I'm afraid this isn't a social visit. Sora's daughter's been kidnapped and the heartless are acting up again. I was wondering if you'd noticed anything unusual or if you had any information that could help us?"

Zeus shook his head. "I wish I could be of more help but as far as I could tell things have been fine here. Even my brother's been quiet. The only thing we've noticed is a boy in a black suit wandering about."

"A boy in a black suit?" Mickey asked, intrigued. "Has he been causing any problems?"

"Not as yet. He just felt off." Zeus explained, "He reminded me of those fellows in the black coats from so long ago, the ones who stole the Olympus stone. So, I've asked Hermes to keep an eye out for him-"

As if on cue, Hermes came rushing towards the two of them from the world below. "Oh my lord! That kid in the suit's back! He's in the Coliseum as we speak! Gotta say good call asking me to keep a look out for him, he's proving to be a real piece of work with that key of his, he's fighting this other kid with silver hair and just wiping the floor with him!

"A keyblade?! Oh no! Lyle!" Mickey exclaimed fearfully as he jumped on Pegasus's back. Sensing the urgency, the winged horse took off. "Thanks for your help!" Mickey called out to the gods as he headed straight to the coliseum hoping he wasn't too late.

~*KH*~

Tenebrae mercilessly charged at Lyle with lightning speed, sending the silver-haired teen off his feet as the dark keyblade hit him in the gut. Lyle moved to get up to his feet but before he could do anything to defend himself, Tenebrae attacked again. The silver-haired teen cried out in pain as the weapon cut into him. Tenebrae's movements were just so fast that Lyle couldn't keep up with him. He tried desperately to block or attack himself but it was proving to be impossible at his current skill level. He'd never dealt with such an opponent before. He only had the opportunity to fight a few heartless on the islands and he only just began his training here.

Phil and Meg could only helplessly watch on the sidelines at the display as Lyle was beaten down by his clearly superior opponent. Even with all the injuries he was suffering, Lyle kept pushing forward. This guy knew something about Avalon and her kidnapping and he wasn't willing to lay down in defeat.

"Oh is this really all you've got?" Tenebrae laughed as he slashed at Lyle again, sending the beaten silverette to his knees. "I thought you were the son of the great Master Riku! Pathetic!"

Lyle struggled to get back up to his feet and met Tenebrae's golden gaze. "How do you know my dad's name?!" He demanded before he was swiftly knocked back down by a boot to his shoulder.

"Oh I know quite a bit. Including the fact that you're clearly useless." Tenebrae raised his keyblade, ready to deliver a fatal blow. Lyle gripped his keyblade and just barely managed to block.

"What did you do with Avalon?!" Lyle demanded, trying to sound much braver than he felt.

"Aww, how sweet." Tenebrae mocked as he pulled his keyblade back and used it to knock him down again. "The little knight demanding to know the whereabouts of the princess. Well now it's time for you to say gooodnight!"

"Get away from him!" A loud voice exclaimed as Tenebrae's attack was stopped by the sound of metal hitting metal. Lyle opened his eyes and gasped at the sight of Mickey blocking Tenebrae's attack with his own keyblade having just returned from Olympus in the nick of time and jumping off Pegasus's back to save Lyle. "Are you okay?!" Mickey asked as he glanced at the beaten teen.

"I've been better." Lyle said, sounding relieved.

"Lyle!" Sora's voice exclaimed as he, Hercules, Donald and Goofy rushed into the coliseum just returning from the underworld themselves. They rushed to protectively stand in front of Sora's young apprentice. Donald wasted no time in casting cure of the teenager while Goofy went to help him up.

"Hmm, now why does that name sound familiar? Oh that's right, that's the name my princess was calling for as I swept her off the island. I have to say I didn't expect her knight in shining armor to be some pretty boy." Tenebrae smirked as he met Lyle's gaze.

"Who are YOU?!" Sora roared, not liking the look of this boy. He looked like he could be related to Xehanort or Vanitas. Perhaps a grandson or nephew? No, that couldn't be the case. He defeated them. But still, those golden eyes and that evil smirk made him uneasy.

"Oh Sora! So nice of you to finally join us! I've heard so much. It's wonderful to finally meet you!" Tenebrae smirked and voluntarily dismissed his keyblade, speaking like a dark fanboy.

"From who, exactly?" Sora didn't like where this was going. He didn't know who this boy was but he clearly had devious intentions.

"Well you've become something of a legend." Tenebrae smirked. "I've always wanted to meet you in person."

"You're the one Hades was talking about; you're in a black suit. Who are you?" Demanded Goofy.

"Oh right, silly me." Tenebrae mockingly bowed to the group, a cold grin on his face. "I am Tenebrae, the prince of darkness."

"Okay, Tenebrae." Sora snarled, quickly losing his patience. "So you're the one behind the Heartless this time, aren't you?!"

"Guilty." Tenebrae smirked.

"What have you done with my daughter?! WHERE IS SHE?!" Kingdom Key appeared in his hand as he pointed it threateningly at the dark boy who knew where his daughter was.

"Oh she's perfectly fine." Tenebrae smirked. "For now."

Donald looked just as mad as Sora. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means she is still alive, and I intend to keep her that way. She's quite the feisty little thing." Tenebrae purred.

"If you hurt her-!" Lyle exclaimed as he moved to get back up to his feet to charge at Tenebrae but Mickey stopped him.

"Lyle, don't. We need to get more information out of him." Mickey stated.

"Listen to your elders, little knight, you may just learn something. Not that you're much of a threat to me anyway." Scolded Tenebrae.

Sora snarled. "Where's my daughter?!" He demanded. Getting fed up with his condescending attitude.

"Well I must disappoint you, but I have no idea where my princess has gotten to." Tenebrae sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Sora questioned.

"It means that she's escaped my clutches. But I'm not concerned, I'll have her back in my arms in no time. Where she belongs."

Sora could hardly believe what he was hearing. Avalon was his daughter. The most important thing in his and Kairi's lives and this guy was speaking like she was his property! His grip on his keyblade was steadily increasing with anger that his knuckles were turning white

"Sora's daughter doesn't belong with you!" Donald quacked angrilly.

"Agree to disagree." Tenebrae smirked as he picked Avalon's tie off the ground and tucked it back into his suit pocket.

"Okay, then what were you doing down in the underworld with Hades?! Why were you asking him about ruling the worlds?!" Sora questioned.

"And spoil the surprises I have in store for you? Sorry but that's all the information you're getting out of me today." Tenebrae smirked.

But Tenebrae easily jumped out of the way and summoned a dark corridor. "Well it was nice to finally meet you, Sora, Donald, Goofy, your majesty, pretty boy. But I've got places to go, people to see, and a runaway princess to take back."

"Get back here!" Sora demanded. He gripped his keyblade and charged at Tenebrae but he was too late as he vanished within his dark corridor.

"Sora I'm sorry." Hercules said as he approached his long-time friend. "If there's anything we can do to help..."

"At least we know who he is now. And that Avalon managed to escape." Mickey said.

"Yeah! She's your daughter! She's gotta have some of you in her! She'll be okay!"

Sora looked up at them, feeling the overwealming kindness and support his friends were offering him.

"Sora, remember our first promise?" Goofy asked.

"No frowning and no sad faces." Sora said as he thought back to those times years ago when the islands were destroyed, Kairi and Riku were missing and he was scared and confused. That was when Donald and Goofy first appeared to him. "Always smile. You're right guys. Avalon wouldn't want me to mope around. We just need to believe she'll be okay until we can find her."

"If she's anything like her father then I don't think you have anything to worry about." Meg smiled.

Sora nodded and turned to the group. "Okay, so Hades told us that Tenebrae offered him control over the heartless to help him take over the worlds but turned him down..."

"I still don't trust that." Hercules said. "I'll keep a close watch on him for you."

"Thanks Herc." Sora smiled then turned to Mickey. "Did Zeus have any information?"

Mickey shook his head sadly. "He knew as much as Hades knew it would seem. He noticed Tenebrae and asked Hermes to keep a lookout for him."

"We will too." Meg assured. "We'll contact you if anything of interest happens."

"Thanks guys! Any information you can find will help a lot." Goofy said.

"We should probably get going! Avalon could be anywhere by now!" Donald stated.

"Before you go, here kid. I want ya to take this." Phil said as he placed a small charm in Lyle's hand. It was a pure white with the golden symbol of Olympus depicted on it. It was known as the Olympian charm. "Hope it helps you on your junior hero's journey."

"Thanks, um, what is it?" Lyle looked at the charm curiously.

"A summon charm." Sora replied. "They've helped us a lot over the years. They summon allies from other worlds to help us fight against the heartless."

"Who does it summon?" Lyle asked just as Pegasus trotted up to him and licked his cheek. "Oh, it summons you? Thats cool!" Pegasus nodded. Lyle smiled and petted his nose.

"Don't forget your training kid!" Phil stated. "It's gonna be tough out there. And if you guys are ever in the area consider signin' up for the games!"

"Thanks for taking the time to train me." Lyle smiled as he pocketed the charm.

"Wack!" Donald exclaimed excitedly. "You want us to sign up for the games too?!"

"Why not?" Phil boasted. "The crowd's been itching' for you guys to make a comeback! Once your hero work is done of course!"

"We really should get going! Thanks again for all your help!" Sora said as he led his team out of the coliseum while Hercules, Meg, Phil and Pegasus offered their goodbyes.

The group started making their way back towards where they parked the Gummi ship. Lyle was sore and sweaty from his training with Phil then his fight with Tenebrae but he was still grateful to be there.

"So where to now?" Donald asked Sora.

"Hmmm..." Sora pondered. "Maybe we should visit Radiant Garden? The restoration committee were the ones taking in refugees back in Traverse Town when the stars first started going out back then."

"Gawrsh you're right!" Goofy exclaimed. "Maybe they heard somethin' about Avalon!"

"I sure hope so." Mickey agreed. "That Tenebrae fella said she managed to escape him but he's gonna be looking for her!"

"So we have to find Avalon before he does!" Lyle exclaimed.

"We've got to hurry." Sora spoke with fatherly concern as they made their way back to the Gummi ship. "She's out there somewhere lost, alone, confused and scared."

~*KH*~

"Yahooooo! this is so fun!" Avalon shouted with excitement as she drove the gummi ship through the asteroids of the lanes between. She had a giant grin plastered on her face as the ship rolled the ship around while Max and Vivi were trying to keep their lunches down. Max had reluctantly agreed to show Avalon how to work the ship's controls in case he was unable to pilot on their journey after her begging him to let her. But, he wasn't expecting the teenager to go this crazy with the controls. He knew right away his initial instincts were right; he shouldn't have let her anywhere near the controls.

"Okay, Avalon-" Max tried to stop himself from throwing up. "Do you think we could slow down a bit?"

"Yes, please. Give Max the controls back!" Begged Vivi.

"Come on! I think I'm finally getting the hang of this!" Avalon exclaimed.

"No! You're done now!" Max scolded like an older sibling as he made it up to the controls and took them from her and led her to the seat he was previously occupying. "I knew this was a bad idea."

"Aww!" Avalon crossed her arms and pouted. "No fair."

"Sorry." Max shrugged. "Maybe we can have another _short_ lesson later. But right now we need to land." Max pointed out the windshield to the world they were approaching.

It was a world that consisted of a vibrant green forest with a small cottage nestled inside, an old castle at the edge of that forest that looked to be practically falling apart. Lastly, there was a field of snow in front of a real, regal stone castle with a prominent sword in a stone resting in a small space. The world was practically brimming with magic.

"This is where Merlin's supposed to be?" Vivi asked.

"It matches the coordinates Nina sent us so I hope so." Max stated. "That cottage reminds me of his house in Radiant Garden; maybe we should start there."

"Cool! Can I try landing-" Avalon started to say.

"No!" Max and Vivi exclaimed simultaneously, cutting her off and fearful expressions plastered on their faces. If Avalon's flying skills were scary and dangerous they did not want her landing.

"Okay, okay fine!" Avalon held her hands up in defence. "You guys win, okay?" With that, Max drove the ship down towards the world before them, ready for landing.

~*KH*~

When the Eraqus docked on Radiant Garden, Nero, Blaze and Sonya stepped onto the worlds surface and looked around in awe at its beauty. Even Zephyr and Daichi who'd known about this world and seen photos of it were astonished at how it looked in person. There were flowers everywhere and there were hues of purple and gold everywhere. A brilliant, peaceful bright blue shy shone from above them, a contrast to the never ending twilight of Twilight Town.

The group of five had landed right in the middle of the main courtyard where a great deal of houses and shops surrounded them and the ground was tiled with beautifully coloured stones.

"This is Radiant Garden?" Nero asked in awe, amazed at the world's beauty and how different it looked from Twilight Town.

"Yup." Nodded Zephyr. "Looks even better than in the pictures back home."

"I really wish I hadn't left my sketchbook back on the ship!"

At that moment a loud scream was heard from nearby. Both Daichi and Zephyr narrowed their eyes in determination and summoned their keyblades.

"Sorry Nero but drawing's going to have to wait." Daichi stated as he and Zephyr rushed towards the sound of the screams, eager to put their lifetimes of training to good use.

"Hey! Blue boy! Don't leave us behind!" Blaze shouted, calling his own keyblade and running after them. Nero and Sonya followed closely behind with their own weapons ready.

It wasn't long before they located the source of the terrified screams. They'd only just turned a corner to the market square where they found two kids huddled together and surrounded by heartless. They looked to be around twelve years old and possibly twins. The boy had short unkept brown hair under a blue and white baseball cap depicting a blue pine tree. He was wearing an orange t-shirt, blue vest and brown shorts and was tightly clutching an old journal with a golden six-fingered hand on the cover depicting the number 3. The girl had long curly brown hair pulled back by a pink headband and braces lining her teeth. She was dressed in a hand-knitted pink sweater with a shooting star on it and a purple skirt.

They were surrounded by a cluster of heartless, ready to strike onto the terrified kids. They included multiple flame cores, soldiers and large bodies.

"Dipper! Do something!" The girl exclaimed fearfully, clinging onto the boy's arm.

The boy was frantically looking through his journal, a nervous shaky mess. "I'm trying Mabel! The journal doesn't say anything about to stop these things!"

Just at that moment one of the flame cores started getting all rilled up and looked ready to send a blast of fire towards the kids. Daichi noticed right away and jumped into action, rushing towards the, and using a quick water spell to extinguish the heartless's flames.

"Look out!" Daichi ordered as he used a powerful slash from his keyblade to finish off the heartless. His teammates quickly moved to his side and stood protectively in front of Dipper and Mabel.

"You saved us! My hero!" Mabel exclaimed as she rushed to Daichi and to his surprise, grabbed onto his arm. "Wow, you got some mussel there!"

Blaze snickered under his breath. "Looks like you've got yourself a fan!"

"Guys, can we focus?!" Sonya snarled as she smacked Blaze upside the head. "We have heartless to deal with!"

As if on cue, one of the heartless lunged for Blaze but was soon destroyed by an attack from Nero's keyblade. Zephyr stayed close to Dipper and Mabel to protect them. She quickly cast a defensive Aero spell on herself and the two kids, minimizing the damage taken from the oncoming heartless. Daichi joined her in protecting them by taking out as many heartless near them as possible with strong, deadly blows. Sonya jumped to slash at one of the large bodies, dealing a great deal of damage to its back. But the moment the heartless turned around, its frontal shield kicked in and it attacked Sonya with strong blows from its fists, sending her to her knees.

Seeing Sonya and the rest of his team in trouble, Nero reached into his pocket and pulled out the summon charm he got from Master Yen Sid. He didn't know what he was doing but something compelled him to hold it close to his heart and shout;

"Spring Sprite!" The charm began to glow a warm green as something flew down towards him from the sky. As it grew closer, Nero could see it was a green elegant, feminine spirit with long curly hair decorated with flowers. The spirit said nothing as she playfully flew around Nero, instead beautiful music filled his ears. The teenager smiled at the sight of a new ally as she waved her hand and a wind cluster full of butterflies and flowers appeared under Nero's feet, allowing him to fly a little in the air.

Nero flew towards the heartless as the Spring Sprite followed. Each attack he made was met with a blast of orchestral music while she continuously healed his magic, letting him cast seemingly unlimited spells. Everywhere the Spring Sprite moved left a trail of grass and flowers. Once her trail was complete, she nodded at Nero who took her hand. Together they flew all over the battlefield dealing heavy damage to the heartless from powerful wind and earth magic sourced from the trail of grass and flowers the Spring Sprite had created. (1)

They'd done enough damage to finish off the last of the heartless so Nero looked to his first summon and smiled.

"Thanks for your help!" He said as she returned the smile and vanished, taking the orchestral music with her.

The group barely got a breather before a voice broke the silence.

"Dipper! Mabel! There you are!" A worried, feminine voice shouted as Nina rushed towards them. She knelt down in front of the twins and put her hands on their shoulders. "I told you guys not to wander off too far from the castle's refugee centre. The heartless are getting worse every day!" She gave them a look much like an older sister would when scolding a pair of younger siblings.

"Sorry, Nina." Mabel sighed. "I guess we wandered a little too far."

Dipper held his journal tightly against his chest. "We just wanted to figure out a way to get our world back. Those heartless took everything... Grunkle Stan, Wendy, Soos-"

"And Waddles!" Mabel exclaimed with tears welling up in her eyes.

Nina's expression softened as she sighed and hugged each of them. "I know you guys are scared but my dad and everyone at the castle are doing everything they can to try and figure out what's going on. But in the meantime you guys need to stay safe. I'm sure your friends and family wouldn't want anything else to happen to you."

Just then, a boy stepped into the market square. He was tall and slender with blonde hair reaching down to his chin. He was dressed in a uniform with a black shirt that bald gold shoulder pads, white pants and a distinct red cape. He was holding a playing card in his hand as though it were his weapon.

"Good, we finally found you two." He sighed in relief.

"Hey Ace." Nina waved. "Do you mind taking Dipper and Mabel back to the refugee centre?" She asked.

"No problem." Ace agreed as he dismissed his card. "The rest of my class are still on the lookout for more refugees. Come on, guys." Ace took Dipper and Mabel from Nina then started leading them back.

Once they were gone, Nina smiled at the group. "Thanks for your help." She gave a short bow. "I'm Nina Leonhart."

"Wait. You're Nina?!" Zephyr gasped.

Nina tilted her head curiously. "Yes. I'm sorry, have we met?" She asked, sounding a little confused.

"It's me! Zephyr!" The blonde exclaimed excitedly.

It took Nina a second but her expression soon became one of excitement to match Zephyr's. "Oh wow! It's really you? No way!" She didn't hesitate to pull Zephyr into a tight hug which the blonde returned.

"You guys know each other?" Nero asked, confused.

"We're pen pals." Zephyr explained. "We've been exchanging letters for a few years through the moogles."

"Oh right!" Daichi realized. "I remember you talking about that. Nice to meet you, Nina. I'm Daichi and this is Nero, Sonya and Blaze."

Both Nero and Sonya waved and offered their hellos but Blaze remained silent. Instead, he was silently gazing at Nina. A smile spread across his lips as he quickly pulled off his beanie, adjusted his spiky red hair, put it back on then strode up to Nina.

"Hey there." He spoke with a flirtatious tone. "Yo, name's Blaze. How're you doing? You come here often?"

Nina blinked a few times in surprise at Blaze but she soon offered a nervous smile. "Well, yeah I live here." She then turned her attention back to Zephyr. "So what are you doing here? You said in your last letter that your keyblade training was still going on."

"Well, the heartless activity and missing worlds caught the attention of our parents and master Yen Sid..." Zephyr went on to explain how she and Daichi were given permission to help investigate, their visit with Yen Sid and deciding to travel with their three new companions.

"So you guys are on your own adventure to try and find out what's going on?" Nina asked after listening to their story. "Why don't you guys come up to the castle? My Dad's going to want to know more keyblade weilders showed up and we might be able to help."

"More keyblade weilders?" Nero asked. "You mean there was someone else here?"

"Yeah, Avalon." Nina nodded. "You just missed her, she left just a little while ago."

"I think it would be a good idea to meet with as many allies as possible." Daichi stated. "Okay, lead the way."

"Great! The castle's just this way!" Nina exclaimed as she started walking. Zephyr and Daichi followed closely but Blaze remained in place, gazing at Nina as she walked and chatted with Zephyr. Nero and Sonya looked at each other, then Sonya grabbed the front of Blaze's sleeveless red denim jacket.

"What the heck is going on with you?! What was that all about?!" She demanded, trying to bring him back to reality.

"Yeah, you're acting really weird Blaze." Nero agreed. "What's going on?"

Even with Sonya grabbing his jacket, Blaze's eyes were still locked on Nina as she began leading them out of the market plaza. "Guys, I think I'm in love." He grinned dreamily. "With an angel."

Both Sonya and Nero looked at each other and sighed simultaneously. After noticing that they were getting left behind, the two of them each started pushing a star struck Blaze towards the castle where Nina was leading them.

 **In case you guys didn't know, Dipper and Mabel are from the Disney series Gravity Falls, the Spring Sprite is from Fantasia 2000(just thought Yen Sid would hang out a Fantasia summon) and Ace and the rest of his class are from Final Fantasy Type-0. Great game! I'm playing my boyfriend's copy. Thanks so much for reading and be sure to leave a review!**

 **I know we didn't get much of Avalon this time so next chapter do you guys want to see just her, Max and Vivi in their first Disney world of do you want me to keep checking in with the other groups?** **Thanks so much for your patience and support with this story it literally means everything to me!**

 **(1): Spring Sprite's limit: Nature's Call**


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